Riyad us-Saliheen

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Wealth is not diminished by giving (in charity). Allah augments the honour of one who forgives; and one who displays humbleness towards another seeking the pleasure of Allah, Allah exalts him in ranks."

'Aishah (May Allah be pleased with her) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) had slaughtered a sheep and distributed major portions of its meat. Then he (ﷺ) asked, "Is there anything left?" She replied, "Nothing, except the shoulder." Thereupon he said, "All of it is left except its shoulder."

Asma' bint Abu Bakr (May Allah be pleased with her) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said to me, "Do not hoard; otherwise, Allah will withhold from you."

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: I heard Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) saying: "The case of a miserly man and a generous man who gives in charity is similar to that of two persons who are clad in armour from their breasts up to their collar bones. When the generous man gives in charity, his armour expands so much as to cover his fingertips and toes. When the miser intends to spend something the armour contracts and every ring of it sticks to the place where it is (sinks into his flesh). He tries to loosen it but it does not expand."

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "He who gives in charity the value of a date which he legally earned, and Allah accepts only that which is pure, Allah accepts it with His Right Hand and fosters it for him, as one of you fosters his mare, until it becomes like a mountain."

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "While a man was walking through a barren land, he heard a voice coming out of a cloud saying: 'Irrigate the garden of so-and- so.' Thereupon the cloud drifted in a certain direction and discharged its water over a rocky plain. The streamlets flowed into a channel. This man followed the channel until it reached a garden and he saw the owner of the garden standing in its center, working with his spade spreading the water (changing the course of the water). He asked him: "O slave of Allah, what is your name?" He told his name, which was the same that he heard from the cloud. The owner of the garden then asked him: "O slave of Allah, why did you ask my name?" He replied: "I heard a voice from a cloud which poured down this water saying: 'Irrigate the garden of so-and-so.' I would like to know what do you do with it." He said: "Now that you asked me, I will tell you. I estimate the produce of the garden and distribute one-third of it in charity, I spend one-third on myself and my family and invest one-third back into the garden."

Jabir bin 'Abdullah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Beware of oppression, for oppression will be darkness on the Day of Resurrection; and beware of stinginess because it destroyed those who were before you. It incited them to shed their blood and deem unlawful as lawful."

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: A man came to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said; "I am hard pressed by hunger." He (ﷺ) sent a word to one of his wives who replied: "By Him Who has sent you with the Truth, I have nothing except water." Then he sent the same message to another (wife) and received the same reply. He sent this message to all of them (i.e., his wives) and received the same reply. Then he (ﷺ) said, "Who will entertain this (man) as guest?" One of the Ansar said: "O Messenger of Allah, I will." So he took him home and said to his wife: "Serve the guest of Messenger of Allah (ﷺ)."Another narration is: The Ansari asked his wife: "Have you got anything?" She answered: "Nothing, except a little food for the children." He said: "Keep them busy with something, and when they ask for food put them to sleep. When the guest enters, extinguish the light and give him the impression that we are also eating." So they sat down and the guest ate and they passed the night hungry. When he came to the Prophet (ﷺ) in the morning, he said to him, "Allah admired what you did with your guest last night."

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "The food for two suffices for three; and the food for three suffices for four persons.".In Muslim, Jabir (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "The food for one person suffices for two; the food for two suffices for four, and the food for four suffices for eight persons."

Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Once we were on a journey with Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) when a rider came and began looking right and left. Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Whoever has an extra mount should offer it to him who is without it, and whoever has surplus food should give it to him who has nothing;" and he continued mentioning other properties until we thought that none of us had any right to surplus of his own property..

Sahl bin Sa'd (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: A woman brought a woven piece of cloth to Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and said to him: "I have woven this sheet with my own hands for you to wear." He accepted it as he was in need of it. He later came out wearing it as a lower garment. Someone said: "How nice it is! Kindly give it to me." Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Very well." He remained in our company for some time, then he went back, folded it and sent it to the man. The people said (to that man): "You did not do well. Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) wore it and he was in need of it, and you asked him for it when you are well aware that he (ﷺ) never refuses a request." He said: "I swear by Allah that I did not ask it for wearing. I asked him for it so that it might be my shroud after my death." Sahl (the narrator of this Hadith) said: And in fact it was used as his shroud..

Abu Musa (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "When the Ash'ariyun run short of food in the Jihad or when they are at home in Al-Madinah, they collect all the provisions they have in a sheet and then divide it equally among themselves. They are of me and I am of them."

Sahl bin Sa'd (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: A drink was brought to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and he drank some of it. On his right was a boy and on his left were elderly people. He said to the boy, "Would you permit me to give the rest of this drink to these on my left?" The boy said, "O Messenger of Allah, I would certainly not give preference to anyone in anything that might come to me from you." So he handed over the rest of the drink to him..

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (ﷺ) said, "While Ayyub (ﷺ) the Prophet was taking a bath, naked, a large number of gold locusts fell on him. He tried to collect them in a piece of cloth, when he heard his Rubb (Allah) calling him: 'O Ayyub ! Have I not sufficed you to care for what you see (the worldly possessions)?' Ayyub (ﷺ) said: 'Indeed by Your Power, but I can never do away with Your Blessings."'

Ibn Mas'ud (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "Envy is permitted only in two cases: A man whom Allah gives wealth, and he disposes of it rightfully, and a man to whom Allah gives knowledge which he applies and teaches it."

Ibn 'Umar (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: "Envy is justified in regard to two types of persons only: a man whom Allah has given knowledge of the Qur'an, and so he recites it during the night and during the day; and a man whom Allah has given wealth and so he spends from it during the night and during the day."

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Some of the poor Emigrants came to Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and said to him, "The wealthy have obtained all high ranks and everlasting bliss." He asked, "How is that?" They replied: "They offer Salaah as we do, and observe Saum (fasting) as we do, but they give in Sadaqah (charity) and we do not, and they emancipate slaves and we cannot." He (ﷺ) said, "Shall I not teach you something whereby you will catch up with those who have preceded you and will get ahead of those who follow you, and no one will surpass you unless he does the same as you do?" They said, "Surely, O Messenger of Allah." He said, "Say: Subhan Allah, and Allahu Akbar, and praise Him (by saying Al-hamdu lillah) thirty-three times at the end of every Salaah." They returned to him and said: "Our brothers, the possessors of wealth, having heard what we are doing, have started doing the same." Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "This is Grace of Allah which He gives to whom He wishes."

'Abdullah bin 'Umar (May Allah be pleased with them) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) took hold of my shoulders and said, "Be in the world like a stranger or a wayfarer." Ibn 'Umar (May Allah be pleased with them) used to say: When you survive till the evening do not expect to live until the morning; and when you survive till the morning do not expect to live until the evening. While in good health (do good deeds) before you fall sick; and while you are alive (do good deeds) before death strikes..

'Abdullah bin 'Umar (May Allah be pleased with them) reported: Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, "It is the duty of a Muslim who has something which is to be given as a bequest not to have it for two nights without executing a written will.".In the narration of Muslim it is narrated as 'three nights'. Ibn 'Umar (May Allah be pleased with them) said: Since I heard the Messenger of Allah say this, I have never spent a night without having my will with me.

Anas (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (ﷺ) drew a few lines and said, "One of them represents man and another indicates death; and a man continues like this until the nearest line (i.e., death) overtakes him."