The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) then said, ‘Allah raised the earth before me until I could see their battlefield.’”
When ‘Abd Allāh ibn Rawāhah was about to depart for Mu’tah, he wept, and his family wept when they saw him weeping. He said, “By Allah, I have not wept out of fear of death or concern for your protection. Rather, I wept because of the words of Allah Almighty:
‘There is not one of you but will come to it. This is a decree your Lord has made binding.’ [Maryam: 71]
I am certain that I shall come to it, but I do not know whether I shall escape it.”
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As for appointing an agent in matters a person needs for his own benefit, examples include authorizing someone to sell, purchase, arrange a marriage, enforce prescribed punishments, conduct litigation, and similar matters. This applies to anything permissible, recommended, or obligatory that a person has been commanded to undertake but need not perform personally. As for acts of worship that must be performed personally, such as ablution, prayer, and fasting, no one else may perform them on his behalf. Allah Almighty says:
“Send one of you to the city with this silver of yours. Let him find which food is purest and bring you some provision from it. Let him be discreet and not make anyone aware of you.” [al-Kahf: 19]
This is an instance of appointing an agent to purchase something.
“The Prophet (peace be upon him) appointed a man to oversee Khaybar, and he brought him some dates. The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) asked him, ‘Are all the dates of Khaybar like this?’ He replied, ‘No, by Allah, O Messenger of Allah. We obtain one sā‘ (a measure of volume) of these in exchange for two sā‘s, and two for three.’ The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said, ‘Do not do that. Sell all the dates for dirhams, then use the dirhams to buy good-quality dates.’”
This too is an instance of appointing an agent to sell and purchase.
“The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) sent his freedman Abū Rāfi‘ and a man from the Ansār, and they contracted his marriage to Maymūnah bint al-Hārith while the Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) was still in Medina, before he departed.”
This is an instance of appointing an agent to arrange a marriage. He also said, “Go in the morning, Unays, to this man’s wife. If she confesses, stone her.” This is an instance of appointing an agent to enforce prescribed punishments.
“The Messenger of Allah (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) appointed Abū Bakr to lead the prayer in his place and entrusted Bilāl with watching for dawn and waking them for prayer, saying,