(177) It is related by Abu Umama that the Apostle of God said: “Among my friends the most enviable, in my judgement, is the faithful Believer who is lightly burdened [i.e., is not weighed down with a big family and abundance of worldly goods], and has a large share in Namaz, and worships the Lord well and with the awareness that he is seeing, or is being seen by Him, and renders habitual obedience to Him, and does all this secretly and not in the open, and remains unknown to fame and the fingers are not stretched towards him, and whose sustenance is proportionate to his essential needs and he is contented with it.” The Prophet, then, snapped his fingers [as one does to express surprise at anything], and said: “Death comes soon to him and the women to mourn his loss are few and the legacy left behind by him, also, is little.”
-Musnad-i-Ahmad, Tirmidhi and Ibn-i-Maja
Commentary.-The above saying of the Prophet means that though the states and circumstances of his friends and earnest bondmen of the Lord were different, the most enviable life was of the Believer who had very few encumbrances but a special share in Namaz and other modes of worship and was so little known that when he moved about people did not point out that such and such a man was going and his daily bread was adequate for his needs and he was also satisfied with it and when the hours of his death struck, he just passed away without leaving behind disputes over the division of property or a host of mourners to grieve over his death.

Back to Contents