humanity. Abū Bakr did not have a greater claim upon the believers than they had upon themselves [as her father did] (1). Nor was he among those to whom Allah forbade both obligatory and voluntary charity, as He did her father. Nor was he among those whose love Allah made precedence over love of family and wealth, as He did in her father’s case.

The distinction between the prophets and others is that Allah Most High protected the prophets from leaving worldly wealth as an inheritance (2), lest this provide grounds for anyone to impugn their prophethood by alleging that they sought worldly gain and left it behind (3) for their heirs. As for al-Siddīq’s father (4) and others like him, they possessed no prophethood that could be impugned on such grounds. Similarly, Allah Most High kept our Prophet from writing and poetry, safeguarding his prophethood against suspicion, though others had no need of such protection.

Second: His statement, “He resorted in this matter to a report (5) that he alone transmitted,” is false. The Prophet’s statement—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—“We leave no inheritance; whatever we leave behind is charity,” was transmitted from him by Abū Bakr, Umar, Uthmān, Alī, Talha, al-Zubayr, Sa‘d, Abd al-Rahmān ibn Awf, al-Abbās ibn Abd al-Muttalib, the wives of the Prophet—may Allah bless him and grant him peace—and Abū Hurayra. The reports from all of them are established in the Sahīh and Musnad collections (6) and are widely known among the people of