his family ties with manifold acts of kindness and beneficence, bringing gladness to their hearts, so Allah will lengthen his lifespan, widen his provision, and open before him doors of sustenance and blessing that he could never have attained without that noble cause.

Just as pure air, wholesome nourishment, and the use of substances that strengthen body and heart are among the factors that prolong life, so too has Allah made the maintenance of kinship a divinely appointed means. The causes by which worldly benefits are secured fall into two categories: tangible, perceptible means and divinely ordained, unseen means that have been decreed by the One who is powerful over all things, to whose will every cause is completely subservient.

6 – The ḥadith also proves that the intention of the doer determines the portion of worldly reward connected to his deed, and that this does not harm him so long as his ultimate aim is the Face of Allah and the Abode of the Hereafter. In His wisdom Allah has arranged both immediate and deferred rewards and has promised them to those who act. Thus the true believer, in both what he does and what he refrains from, is sincere for Allah’s sake, drawing on the various incentives embedded in deeds to help him reach that highest objective. And Allah is the One who grants success.