Mālik, who was one of Imām al-Nawawī’s teachers.

– tadhar: Al-Miṣbāḥ and other lexicons note that the Arabs have allowed the perfect form and verbal noun of this verb to fall into disuse; whenever the past tense is required they use taraka (“he left”). Thus the intended verbal noun here, together with inna, is: “your leaving your heirs….”

– ʿālah: with a fatḥah on the ʿayn; the plural of ʿāʾil, meaning “poor people,” from the verb ʿāla yaʿīlu (“to become needy”). The term ʿaylah denotes poverty. Allah Most High says: “And if you fear impoverishment, Allah will enrich you out of His bounty” (9:28).

– yatakaffafūna al-nās: derived from kaf, “hand”; that is, they beg from people with hands outstretched, or they ask for what is in other people’s hands.

Benefits derived from the ḥadith

1 – Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ fell ill in Mecca during the year of the Farewell Pilgrimage, and the Prophet ﷺ visited him. Saʿd explained that he possessed abundant wealth and that his only heir was a single daughter, then asked whether he might give all of it in charity, as reported by Aḥmad and al-Nasāʾī. The Prophet replied, “No.” He asked, “Two-thirds?” He replied, “No.” “Half?” “No.” “Then one-third?” He said, “A third—and a third is much.” He then clarified that leaving one’s heirs well-off, possessing what suffices them and spares them from asking others, is better than leaving them poor, begging from people and living on their generosity.

2 – Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ al-Qurashī al-Zuhrī was among the earliest Muslims and one of the first emigrants. He fought in every engagement with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, including Badr, and his valor at Uḥud was so great that the Prophet ﷺ said to him, “May my father and mother be ransomed for you.” He is one of the ten promised Paradise and one of the six members of the consultative council. He commanded the Muslim armies that defeated the Persians and opened al-Qādisiyyah, al-Madāʾin, and other cities. He withdrew from the turmoil that followed the assassination of ʿUthmān (may Allah be pleased with him). Saʿd lived until 54 AH; by the time he died he had five sons and, as a sixth child, one daughter. May Allah have mercy on him and be pleased with him.