176 – Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that a young man from the tribe of Aslam said, “Messenger of Allah, I want to join the expedition, but I have nothing with which to equip myself.” The Prophet ﷺ replied, “Go to So-and-so, for he had prepared his equipment but then fell ill.” So the youth went to that man, and the man said to his wife, “O So-and-so, give him the equipment I had prepared and do not hold anything back. By Allah, if you withhold anything, it will never be blessed for you.” Muslim transmitted this hadith.

[Explanation]
This narration cited by the author highlights encouraging others toward good. A man came to the Prophet ﷺ asking for help so that he could prepare for the military campaign. The Prophet ﷺ directed him to a man who had already readied his mount and all that he needed for travel but had fallen ill and therefore could not set out for jihad. The requester went to that man and conveyed the Prophet’s words. The sick man then instructed his wife, “Bring out what I prepared and do not keep back any part of it. By Allah, if you withhold anything, it will not be blessed for us.”

The hadith shows that whoever guides someone to a good deed receives a reward for that guidance; it has already been mentioned that “whoever directs another to good will have a reward equal to that of the one who does it.”

It also indicates that when a person intends to perform a righteous act but is prevented by illness, he should hand over whatever he had set aside for that act to someone who can carry it out, so that the reward will still be written for him.