—namely, thirty sâʿs of barley he had bought in Medina for his family. Thus the Prophet ﷺ possessed no personal wealth, never appointed a tax-collector, and whatever money did reach him stayed only long enough for him to distribute it among the Muslims.

Accordingly, Abū Bakr proclaimed, “Whoever has from the Messenger of Allah ﷺ a promise or a debt, let him come to us.” Jābir (may Allah be pleased with him) came to Abū Bakr and said, “The Prophet ﷺ told me, ‘If the revenue of Bahrain arrives, I will give you this, and this, and this.’” Abū Bakr replied, “Take it.” Jābir scooped it up with both hands, counted it, and found it to be five hundred. Abū Bakr then said, “Take the like of it as well, for the Messenger repeated ‘this, and this, and this’ three times.” So Abū Bakr gave him the full amount the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had promised him.

This ḥadīth imparts several lessons:

• It is permissible to allocate something from the Bayt al-māl (public treasury) to a particular Muslim, as the Prophet ﷺ did for Jābir—provided it is not done out of personal whim, but for a genuine public or private benefit.

• It attests to the Prophet’s generosity ﷺ: he would scoop up money in handfuls rather than count it coin by coin, as shown by his gesture “with his hands.” This demonstrates how little value wealth held for him, peace and blessings be upon him, unlike the one who amasses riches merely to hoard and tally them.