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| Abu Zar RA The piety and abstinence |
Hadhrat Abu Zar was well known for his
piety and abstinence. He kept no money on himself and likewise did
not like others to hoard it. He was always fighting against the rich
class. Therefore, Hadhrat Uthman during his caliphate advised him to
shift to Rabzah a small village in the desert).
He had a few camels to live on and an
old servant to look after them. A tribesman from Banu Sulaim once
presented himself with a request: “I wish to stay with you to
benefit from your knowledge of Allah’scommandments and Nabi’s SAW ways and habits. I shall also help your servant in looking after the camels.”
Hadhrat Abuzar replied: “I cannot keep
a person with me who does not comply with my wishes, but if you will
always do as instructed, then you may remain with me, otherwise I
wish you good-bye.”
The person asked: “In what way would
you like me to carry out your wishes.” Hadhrat Abu Zar replied:
“When I ask you to spend from my belongings, you are required to
spend the best of them.” The person says, “I accepted Hadhrat Abu
Zar’s condition and stayed on with him. One day, somebody informed
him that there were some poor folk camping near the spring close- by
and were in dire need of food. He asked me to fetch a camel. I
accordingly went and intended to select the best of the lot, as I had
pledged to do.
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| Mosque of Abu Zar Al Ghifari in Madinah @ courtesy of Mohsin Photo |
It was a very kind and submissive animal which was
good for riding, so I decided to leave it and selected the second best. After all, it
was only going to be slaughtered and eaten and for this purpose it
was just as good as the other. The other one was very good for riding
and much more useful to Hadhrat Abu Zar and his family, while the poor
would find one as tasty as the other. I therefore led the other camel to Hadhrat Abu Zar .
He retorted: ‘So, after all you have
broken your promise.’Knowing well what he meant, I turned back and
fetched the best camel instead. He addressed the people about him, ‘I
want two persons to do a job for Allah .’ As two persons
volunteered themselves, he asked them to go and slaughter the camel
and distribute the meat equally among the families camping near the
water, including his own, saying, ‘My family will also share
equally with the rest.’
The volunteers carried out his
instructions. He then sent for me and asked: ‘Did you intentionally
ignore my instructions about spending the best out of my belongings,
or did you just happened to forget about it?’ I replied: ‘I did
not forget your instructions, but thought it better to preserve the
one for transport duties, while the other was as good for eating.’
Abuzar asked: ‘Did you leave it for my
personal need?’ ‘Yes,’ I replied. Then Hadhrat Abuzar advised
me: ‘Come; let me tell you the occasion of my needs. That is the
day when I shall be laid alone in the loneliness of the grave.
Remember, there are three partners in your wealth, firstly your
destiny, which does not wait to take away its share, good or bad; it
will take away all that it has to take, secondly your heirs, who are
waiting for the day of your death, so that they may take over their
share and thirdly yourself. If you can manage, don’t be the most
helpless of the three partners. Take your full share, while you can.
Allah says:
“You will not attain piety until you
spend of that which you love.”
(S3: V92)
I therefore think it advisable to send
things which I love best in advance, so that they may be in safe
deposit for me over there.’ The worst loser of the three partners
is that man who does not spend his wealth in the path of Allah , and
keeps postponing the event till at last fate takes it away from him,
or he dies and his heirs takes it over. Very seldomly heirs give away
the wealth, inherited from another person, in the path of Allah so
that his soul may benefit by it. Nabi SAW once remarked: “Man values
his worldly belongings, hugging them to his soul, and boasting, ‘My
wealth, my wealth,’ but in reality only that much of his wealth
belongs to him, which he either enjoys in the form of food and dress
or that which he spends in the path of Allah , which will be stored
up for him in the hereafter. The remainder of his wealth belongs to
others; he is acting only as a guardian.”
In another Hadith, it is reported that
once Nabi SAW inquired of the Sahabah : “Which of you would like to
see his wealth in the hands of his heirs rather than keeping it
himself?”They replied: “Who would like to be such a person, O
Nabi of Allah SWT?”
Thereupon Nabi SAW explained: “Whatever
you send in advance by spending it in the path of Allah is yours, and
whatever is left behind belongs to your heirs.”
