rich, that is better than leaving them destitute.” His reward for doing this is greater than any reward that might accrue were some of his wealth to be given away in charity after his death.

Among the benefits of this hadith is the fear felt by the Companions who had emigrated from Mecca that they might die there. Saʿd (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “Will I be left behind after my companions?”—an interrogative sentence meaning, “Will I be left behind?” It conveys an unwelcome prospect: he disliked the idea of remaining behind and dying in Mecca after he had left it as a migrant to Allah and His Messenger. Similarly, whatever a person abandons for the sake of Allah he should not return to. We have already mentioned, in explaining this hadith, the case of people who got rid of their television sets when they realized that their harms outweighed their benefits. They discarded them for Allah’s sake and smashed them, then came asking whether they could bring them back. We say: do not bring it back once you have rid yourself of it seeking Allah’s Face; do not revert to something you left for Allah.

Another lesson is the manifestation of a miracle of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him). He said to Saʿd, “You will not be left behind until some people are harmed through you and others benefit from you,” and events unfolded exactly as the Prophet anticipated. Saʿd lived on until the caliphate of Muʿāwiyah and survived for a long time after the Prophet’s words. This is one of the signs of Prophethood: he informs about a future matter and it happens just as he said. Still, it was not an absolute assertion but an expectation, for he had said, “Perhaps you will live on,” without stating it categorically—yet matters turned out exactly as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) had foreseen.

A further benefit of this hadith is that there is no person who performs a deed seeking thereby the Face of Allah