he said to him, “What is troubling you?” He replied, “My sins.” He asked, “And what do you desire?” He answered, “The mercy of my Lord.” He said, “Shall I summon a physician for you?” He replied, “The Physician is the One who has made me ill.” He said, “Shall I order that your stipend be delivered to you?”—he had declined to receive it for two years—. He replied, “I have no need of it.” He said, “It could remain for your daughters after you.” He replied, “Do you fear poverty for my daughters? I have instructed my daughters to recite Surah al-Waqi‘ah every night, for I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say:

‘Whoever recites al-Waqi‘ah every night will never be stricken by need.’ (1)

‘Abd Allah ibn Mas‘ud appointed al-Zubayr ibn al-‘Awwam as his executor. It is said that al-Zubayr performed the funeral prayer for him by night; afterward ‘Uthman reproached al-Zubayr for that. Others say ‘Uthman himself led the prayer, while others say it was ‘Ammar—Allah knows best. He was buried in al-Baqi‘ at the age of a little over sixty.

‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Awf (2) ibn ‘Abd ‘Awf ibn ‘Abd al-Harith ibn Zuhrah ibn Kilab ibn Murrah, Abu Muhammad al-Qurashi al-Zuhri, embraced Islam early at the hands of Abu Bakr. He migrated to Abyssinia and to Madinah, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ established a bond of brotherhood between him and Sa‘d ibn al-Rabi‘. He was present at Badr and every subsequent battle. When the Prophet ﷺ dispatched him to the tribe of Kalb, he appointed him commander and let the ‘adhabah (3) of his turban hang between his shoulders as a mark of authority. He is one of the ten promised Paradise, one of the first eight to accept Islam, a member of the six-man council, and then one of the three to whom the matter was finally narrowed, as mentioned earlier. He was also the one who exerted himself to secure the caliphate for ‘Uthman—may Allah be pleased with him.

He and Khalid ibn al-Walid once exchanged words during a campaign, and Khalid spoke harshly to him. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was informed, he said:

“Do not revile my Companions! By Him in whose hand is my soul, if one of you were to spend in charity an amount of gold equal to Mount Uhud, it would not equal even a mudd of what any one of them has given, nor half of it.” (4)

Ma‘mar narrated from al-Zuhri that ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Awf, during the lifetime of the Prophet ﷺ, gave half his wealth—four thousand—as charity; then he gave forty thousand; then forty thousand dinars; then he equipped five hundred horses in the path of Allah; then he equipped five hundred pack-camels in the path of Allah (5). Most of his wealth came from trade.

As for the report cited by ‘Abd ibn Humayd in his Musnad (6): “Yahya ibn Ishaq related to us; ‘Imarah ibn Zadhan related to us, from Thabit al-Bunani, from Anas ibn Malik: When ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Awf emigrated, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ established a bond of brotherhood between him and ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan. ‘Uthman said to him, ‘I have two orchards; choose whichever of them you wish.’ He replied, ‘May Allah bless your orchards for you. That is not why I embraced Islam. Show me where the market is.’”