—ignorant man that he is. The proof is that detachment from worldly life consists solely in the soul’s turning away(1) from the love of renown, from wealth and pleasures, and from partiality toward one’s children and retinue. The term “detachment from worldly life”(2) denotes nothing other than this.

As for renouncing wealth, anyone with even the slightest familiarity with accounts of the past knows that Abū Bakr embraced Islam while possessing great wealth—said to amount to forty thousand(3)—all of which he spent in Allah’s cause. He freed oppressed believing slaves who were being tortured for Allah’s sake. He did not free strong, able-bodied slaves(4) who could defend him; rather, he freed every male and female slave who was being tortured for the sake of Allah, Mighty and Majestic. By the time he emigrated with the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, only six thousand dirhams remained of Abū Bakr’s entire fortune. He took all of it with him in the company of the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, leaving not a single dirham for his sons. He then spent it all in Allah’s cause until none of it remained. He was left with a cloak fastened with a wooden pin: when he stopped, he spread it beneath him, and when he rode, he wore it. Meanwhile, other Companions acquired wealth and spacious properties and vast estates, all lawfully and rightfully. Yet one who preferred (Allah)(5) by devoting that wealth to Allah’s cause(6) was more detached from worldly life than one who spent some and retained some.

Then he assumed the caliphate, yet neither acquired a slave woman nor increased his wealth. At his death(7), he calculated what he had spent on himself and his children from public funds, from which he had not drawn in full