There is also a third condition that people commonly call al-ḥabbah—a swelling that appears in the mouth or throat. If it ruptures, the person dies, and here again nothing helps except cauterization. Indeed, there are many ailments for which only cautery is of any use.

Khabbāb ibn al-Aratt—may Allah be pleased with him—was cauterized seven times. When his companions visited him during his illness, he told them that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, “A person is rewarded for every expenditure he makes except for what he places in the earth,” meaning in construction; for when someone builds only what suffices him, the cost is minimal.

He should put up a single room that accommodates himself and his family, just as the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), the noblest of creation, did. His dwellings were simple rooms—one room for him and his wife and nothing more. When they needed to relieve themselves, they would go out to the open area.

People, however, have moved on, and among the signs of the Hour is that you will see the barefoot, naked, destitute—meaning the poor—vying with one another in lofty buildings, competing either in raising them sky-high or in decorating and refining them. Money spent on such construction brings no reward, unless it is a building set aside for the poor to live in, or its income is devoted to the path of Allah, or something similar; that does earn reward. But a house a person builds for his own residence holds no reward—indeed, if he goes to excess in it, he may incur sin, as some poor people do nowadays.

Now you find poor men who go into debt for ten years or fifteen