So he directed him, and he began to buy samnah (clarified butter) (1), uqaytah (dried curd) (2), and ihab (tanned hides) (3). He amassed wealth, married, and then came to the Prophet ﷺ, who said, “May Allah bless you; give a wedding banquet even if with only a single sheep.”
His riches increased until seven hundred pack-animals arrived for him bearing wheat, flour, and provisions. When they entered Madinah, a rumbling was heard throughout the city. ʿĀʾishah asked, “What is this commotion?” She was told, “A caravan belonging to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf has arrived—seven hundred animals carrying wheat, flour, and food.” ʿĀʾishah said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, ‘ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf will enter Paradise crawling.’ (4)”
When this reached ʿAbd al-Raḥmān he said, “Mother, I call you to witness that all of it—with its loads, its saddle-cloths (5), and its pack-saddles—is dedicated in the cause of Allah.”
Imam Aḥmad (6) reported: ʿAbd al-Ṣamad ibn Ḥassān told us; ʿImārah—namely Ibn Zādhān—narrated to us, from Thābit, from Anas, who said: While ʿĀʾishah was in her house she heard a noise in the city and asked, “What is this?” They replied, “A caravan of ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf has arrived from Syria carrying every kind of merchandise—it numbered seven hundred camels.” The whole of Madinah shook with the sound. ʿĀʾishah said, “I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ say, ‘I saw ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf entering Paradise crawling.’” When this was conveyed to ʿAbd al-Raḥmān he said, “If I can, I shall enter it standing!” and he donated the entire caravan, with its pack-saddles and loads, in the path of Allah. ʿImārah ibn Zādhān al-Ṣaydalanī is the sole transmitter of this report, and he is weak.
As for the statement (7) in the transmission of ʿAbd ibn Ḥumayd that the Prophet established a bond of brotherhood between him and ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, this is a pure error (8), contradicting what is in Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī (9), which affirms that his brother in faith was Saʿd ibn al-Rabīʿ al-Anṣārī—may Allah be pleased with him.
It is also authentically established in the Ṣaḥīḥ (10) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ prayed behind him the second rakʿah of the dawn prayer during one of their journeys—an unparalleled distinction.
When death approached him, he bequeathed four hundred dinars to every surviving participant of Badr—they were one hundred men—and they all accepted it, even ʿUthmān and ʿAlī. ʿAlī said, “Go, Ibn ʿAwf—you have taken its purest share and outstripped its dross.” He also left a large sum to each of the Mothers of the Believers, so that ʿĀʾishah used to say, “May Allah give him to drink of Salsabīl.” In addition, he freed a great number of his slaves.