Benefit of the ḥadīth

This report – and the one before it – proves the excellence of kafāf (modest sufficiency), of taking from this world only what meets one’s basic needs and renouncing whatever exceeds that, out of desire for the lasting bliss of the Hereafter and preference for what endures over what perishes. The Muslim community, therefore, ought to follow his ﷺ example in this regard.

Al-Qurṭubī said: “The meaning of the ḥadīth is that he asked for kafāf, for qūt is what sustains the body and shields a person from need; in that condition one is safe from the pitfalls of both affluence and poverty.” So it is cited in Fatḥ al-Bārī (11/251–252).

I say: It is beyond doubt that kafāf differs according to people, eras and circumstances. A sensible person should therefore strive to maintain the middle ground suited to him: a level at which want does not grind him down, yet he does not chase after superfluities that lead to ease and luxury. In such a state one seldom escapes the harmful consequences of hoarding wealth – all the more so in our time, when temptations abound and the wealthy find its paths so accessible. May Allah, exalted is He, protect us from that and grant us a livelihood of kafāf.

131 – “This race makes up for that earlier one.”

Al-Ḥumaydī recorded it in his Musnad (fol. 42/2); Abū Dāwūd (2578); al-Nasāʾī in the treatise ‘Living with Wives’ (fol. 74/1) – whose wording is reproduced here; Ibn Mājah (1979) in abridged form; and Aḥmad (6/39, 264) both briefly and at length, all through several chains from Hishām ibn ʿUrwah, from his father, from ʿĀʾishah – may Allah be pleased with her:

“She was with the Messenger of Allah ﷺ on a journey while she was still a young girl (she said, ‘I had not yet gained flesh or become heavy’). He said to his companions, ‘Go on ahead,’ so they went on ahead. Then he said, ‘Come, let me race you.’ So I raced him …”