In another ḥadīth it is said:

“We, the community of prophets, are not inherited from; whatever we leave behind is charity.” (1)

This is one of the distinctive features of the prophets: they leave no estate to be divided. That is only because this worldly life is too insignificant in their sight to be bequeathed, and because their reliance upon Allah ﷻ concerning their offspring is so great, firm, and certain that they have no need to leave to their heirs anything they would withhold from other people. Rather, everything they leave becomes charity for the poor, the needy, and those in straitened circumstances. We shall enumerate all the rulings peculiar to the prophets, along with the special distinctions of our Prophet ﷺ and the rest of them, at the beginning of the Book of Marriage in the Major Compendium of Legal Rulings, where the leading scholars placed that discussion, following Imām Abū ʿAbdillāh al-Shāfiʿī—may Allah have mercy on him and on them all.

Imām Aḥmad (3) related: Abū Muʿāwiyah told us, from al-Aʿmash, from Zayd ibn Wahb, from ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAbd Rabb al-Kaʿbah, who said:

I came upon ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAmr as he sat in the shade of the Kaʿbah, and I heard him say:

“We were with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on a journey. When he halted at a campsite, some of us pitched our tents, some were busy with their livestock (5), and some were practicing archery. Then his herald called out, ‘The prayer is to be gathered!’ We assembled, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ stood and addressed us:

‘There was no prophet before me except that he directed his nation to whatever good he knew for them and warned them against whatever evil he knew for them. The well-being of this community has been placed at its beginning, while its latter part will be overtaken by severe tribulation and matters they will disavow. Trials will come, each making the previous one seem mild (6). A trial will arrive and the believer will say, “This is my destruction,” then it will pass. Another trial will come and he will say, “This one,” then it will pass. Whoever among you would rejoice at being kept away from the Fire and admitted to Paradise, let death overtake him (7) while he believes in Allah and the Last Day, and let him treat people in the way he would love to be treated. Whoever pledges allegiance to an imam, giving him the clasp of his hand and the sincerity of his heart, let him obey him as best he can; but if another comes to contest his authority, then strike the neck of the latter.’

So I put my head through the people and said, ‘I adjure you by Allah—did you hear this from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ?’ He pointed with his hand to his ears and said, ‘My ears heard it and my heart retained it.’

I said, ‘This cousin of yours—meaning Muʿāwiyah—orders us to consume one another’s wealth unjustly and to kill ourselves, while Allah Most High says: “O you who believe, do not consume your wealth among yourselves unjustly” (al-Nisāʾ 4:29).’

He brought his hands together, placed them on his forehead, lowered his head for a moment, then raised it and said, ‘Obey him in what is obedience to Allah, and disobey him in what is disobedience to Allah.’