Al-Adab Al-Mufrad 953

Translation

✧ From Qays b. ʿĀṣim al-Saʿdī who said: I came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he said, "This is the chief of the desert dwellers." I said, "O Messenger of Allah, what wealth is there in which I bear no liability from a seeker or a guest?" The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, "The best wealth is forty, and the most is sixty. Woe to owners of hundreds, except he who gives the noble (camel), lends the milch one, and slaughters the fat one, then eats and feeds the contented and the beggar." I said, "O Messenger of Allah, how noble are these qualities! Will no one settle in a valley where I am because of the abundance of my livestock?" He said, "How do you deal with giving?" I said, "I give the firstborn and I give the old." He said, "How do you deal with the loan of a she-camel for milking?" I said, "I lend the she-camel." He said, "How do you deal with the stud camel?" I said, "People come with their ropes, and no man is prevented from a camel he takes and keeps as long as it seems fit to him, until he himself returns it." Then the Prophet ﷺ said, "Is your wealth dearer to you or the wealth of your heirs?" I said, "My wealth." He said, "Indeed, what is yours of your wealth is what you eat and consume, or what you give and spend. The rest belongs to your heirs." I said, "No doubt, if I return, I will reduce their number." When death came to him, he gathered his sons and said, "O my sons, take from me, for you will never take from anyone more sincere to you than I. Do not wail over me, for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ was not wailed over. I heard the Prophet ﷺ forbid wailing. Shroud me in my clothes in which I used to pray, and give authority to your elders. For if you give authority to your elders, your father will always have a successor among you. If you give authority to your young ones, your elders will be humiliated before people, and they will become indifferent to you. Keep your livelihood in good order, for in it is independence from asking people. Beware of begging, for it is the last earning of a man. When you bury me, level my grave. For there was something between me and this tribe of Bakr b. Wāʾil, small disputes, and I am not safe from a fool who might do something that would bring disgrace upon you in your religion."

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