for he was the best of people in character, even though he was the Imam whom everyone followed. May Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him; he possessed the finest character, was the gentlest toward his Companions, and the most beloved to them.

So he came to visit him, and Saʿd said, “Messenger of Allah, the pain has reached me, as you can see”—meaning he had been struck by intense, severe suffering. “I also possess abundant wealth,” that is, he owned a great fortune, “and no one will inherit from me except a single daughter. May I give away two-thirds of my estate in charity?”—two parts out of three.

He replied, “No.” I asked, “Then one half, Messenger of Allah?”—meaning half of it. “No,” he said. I said, “One third, then?” He answered, “One third—and one third is still much.”

His words “May I give in charity…?” mean: may I donate that amount as alms? The Prophet ﷺ forbade him from doing so, because at that time Saʿd was suffering from an illness in which death was feared; therefore the Messenger ﷺ did not allow him to give away more than one third. When a person is terminally ill, he may not donate more than a third of his wealth, because the rights of others—namely the heirs—are now attached to it.

By contrast, someone who is healthy, or whose ailment is mild and not feared to be fatal, may give whatever he pleases—one third, one half, two thirds, or even his entire estate; there is no sin upon him. Nevertheless, he should not give away all his wealth unless he has something that he knows will spare him from needing other servants of Allah.

The essential point is that the Messenger ﷺ prohibited him from giving more than one third and said, “A third—and a third is much,” and in this is proof that if