6 – From this we deduce that a sound, Sharia-compliant waqf is one that is allocated to a legitimate avenue of piety: a needy relative, a poor person, or any other beneficial charitable cause.

7 – The second category is knowledge that continues to benefit people after one’s death—through earnest students who disseminate it, through books one has authored that are still consulted, or through works one has printed and helped spread among the public. In the authentic hadith: “If Allah were to guide even one person through you, it would be better for you than owning the finest red camels.”

8 – The third is a righteous child—whether a son or daughter, or a grandchild, male or female. The deceased reaps the benefit of that child’s supplications, of the acts of devotion and good deeds the child dedicates to him, and, whenever the child worships Allah, the parent or grandparent shares in the reward.

9 – A servant may be granted all three blessings together: he establishes an ongoing charity, people benefit from his teaching or the books he publishes, and he has upright descendants who pray for him and send him the reward of their righteous deeds. Allah’s bounty is indeed vast.

10 – Ibn al-Jawzi said: Whoever knows that this world is a racecourse for acquiring virtues, and that each increase in knowledge and action will raise his station in the Abode of Recompense, will seize every moment of his life, waste not a single instant, and leave no attainable virtue unclaimed. Whoever is granted this success should devote his time to the pursuit of knowledge and bear with patience every hardship and poverty until he attains his goal.