and my only heir is a daughter. May I give away two-thirds of my wealth in charity?”
He replied, “No.”
I said, “What about one half, O Messenger of Allah?”
He said, “No.”
I said, “Then a third?”
He said, “A third—and a third is still much. If you leave your heirs wealthy, that is better than leaving them poor, stretching out their hands to people. Whatever you spend seeking Allah’s Face will be rewarded—even the morsel you place in your wife’s mouth.”
In another wording: “even the bite you lift to your wife’s mouth.”
I asked, “O Messenger of Allah, will I be left behind after my companions?”
He said, “You will not be left behind and then perform a deed seeking Allah’s Face except that it will raise you in rank and degree. Perhaps you will remain so that some people benefit through you while others are harmed.”
Then he said, “O Allah, complete for my Companions their emigration and do not turn them back upon their heels. The unfortunate one is Saʿd ibn Khawlah.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ grieved for him because he died in Makkah. (1)
Aḥmad (2) narrated a similar report from Yaḥyā ibn Saʿīd, from al-Jaʿd ibn Aws, from ʿĀʾishah bint Saʿd, from her father. In it he said: “He placed his hand on his forehead, then wiped his face, chest, and belly, saying, ‘O Allah, cure Saʿd and complete for him his migration.’”
Saʿd said, “I have continued to feel the coolness of his hand upon my liver to this very hour.”
Ibn Wahb said: Mūsā ibn ʿUlayy ibn Rabāḥ told me, from his father, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ visited Saʿd and said: “O Allah, remove the suffering from him—Lord of mankind, King of mankind; You are the Healer—there is no healing except Your healing. In the name of Allah I perform ruqyah for you from everything that harms you, from envy and the evil eye. O Allah, make sound his heart and body, lift his ailment, and answer his supplication.”
Ibn Wahb also said: ʿAmr related to me, from Bakr ibn al-Ashajj, who said: I asked ʿĀmir ibn Saʿd about the Prophet’s ﷺ words to Saʿd, “Perhaps you will remain so that some people benefit through you while others are harmed.” He said, “Saʿd was appointed over Iraq; he killed some people who had apostatized, thereby harming them, and he accepted the repentance of others who had recited the rhymed slogans (3) of Musaylimah the Liar, so they benefited through him.”
Imām Aḥmad (4) said: Abū al-Mughīrah narrated to us; Muʿān (5) ibn Rifāʿah narrated to us; ʿAlī ibn Yazīd (6) narrated to me, from al-Qāsim Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān, from Abū Umāmah, who said: We were sitting with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ when he admonished us and softened our hearts. Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqās wept abundantly and said, “If only I had died.” The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, [“O Saʿd, are you wishing for death in my presence?”]—he repeated it three times—then said: “O Saʿd, if Paradise is what you were created for, then the longer your life or the better your deeds, the better it is for you.” (7)