Hadiths
Narrated Jaabir (may Allah be pleased with him):Allah's Messengerﷺsaid (to me), "If the property of Bahrain had come to us, I would have given you so much and so much." But the Bahrain property did not come till the Prophetﷺhad died. When the Bahrain property came. Aboo Bakr(may Allah be pleased with him)ordered somebody to announce, "Any person who has money claim on Allah's Messengerﷺor whom Allah's Messengerﷺhad promised something, should come to us." So, I went to him and said, "Allah's Messengerﷺhad promised to give me so much and so much." Aboo Bakr scooped up money with both hands thrice for me." (The sub-narrator Sufyaan illustrated this action by scooping up with both hands and said, "Ibn al-Munkadir, another sub-narrator, used to illustrate it in this way.") Narrated Jaabir (may Allah be pleased with him): Once I went to Aboo Bakr and asked for the money but he did not give me, and I went to him again, but he did not give me, so I went to him for the third time and said, "I asked you, but you did not give me; then I asked you (for the second time) and you did not give me; then I asked you (for the third time) but you did not give me. You should either give me or allow yourself to be considered a miser regarding my case." Aboo Bakr said, "You tell me that I am a miser with regard to you. But really, whenever I rejected your request, I had the inclination to give you." (In another narration Jaabir added:) So, Aboo Bakr scooped up money with both hands for me and asked me to count it. I found out that it was five hundred. Aboo Bakr told me to take twice that amount. In another narration, it reads: “He said: No sickness is more harmful than miserliness.”
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Commentary :
The Prophet ﷺ liked to always keep his promises, which is from the manners of the believers.He ﷺwould often promise his Companions - especially those with needs and debts - to give them from the wealth that came from the booty which he receivedfrom the cities that entered Islam.
In this hadeeth, Jaabir ibn ‘Abdullah (may Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Prophet ﷺ had promised him that if the wealth of Jizyah came to him from Bahrain, he would give him “such-and-such, such-and-such, and such-and-such [an amount];” showing two handfuls three times. Bahrain, at that time,referred to what is known today as Bahrain, as well as Al-Ahsaa and Al-Qateef(which are located in eastern Saudi Arabia).Other accounts have shown, according to al-Bukhaaree and others, that the Prophet ﷺ sent al-‘Alaa ibn al-Hadramee to al-Munthir ibn Saawa, the governor of the Persians in Bahrain, calling him to Islam, so he became Muslim.The Magi of those territories made a peace pact with the Muslims on the condition of paying the Jizyah.When the Prophet ﷺ promised Jaabir to give him a share from the Jizyah of Bahrain, the wealth did not reach al-Madeenah until after the Prophet ﷺ and his soul was taken away.Aboo Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) took over the Caliphate after him ﷺ andthen,when the money of Jizyah arrived from Bahrain, Aboo Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) ordered a man to proclaim - it was stated that that proclaimer was Bilaal (may Allah be pleased with him) - who called out loudly, “Whoever has given a loan to the Messenger of Allahﷺ or there is a promise of money from him, then let him come to us so that we can fulfil his rights.” Aboo Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) did this based on his knowledge of what the Prophetﷺ would do in terms of promises and taking loans to fulfil the needs of the people until the wealth of Jizyah or booty came to him.
So, Jaabir came to Aboo Bakr (may Allah be pleased with them) and told him that the Messenger of Allah ﷺhad told him: “So-and-so,” and this is a metaphor for what the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had promised him. Aboo Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) scooped for him three times.It was said that it was like a handful and that it was what fills both palms. The narrator of this hadeeth, Sufyaan ibn ‘Uyaynah, demonstrated it when he explained what it meant, and he scooped using both palms.
In a different narration, it mentions that he came to Aboo Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) and asked him to give him three times, and each time he did not give him. Thereupon, Jaabir (may Allah be pleased with him) said to him, “Either you will give me, or you will be stingy to me.” Miserliness is that a person withholds what is obligatory upon him and does not pay it. Hence, Aboo Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him)remarked to him disapprovingly, “Did you really say, ‘or be stingy to me?!’” I have not held back from giving you at any time, but I really intended to give you.”Aboo Bakr only delayed in giving either due to being busy with something more important than that, or from the fear that it could lead to many others starting to demand for similar things.Aboo Bakr filled his both palms with money and asked him to count it.He counted it and found it to be equivalent to five hundred in number, so Aboo Bakr told him, “Take a similar amount twice again,” just as what the Messenger of Allah ﷺ promised him.
In one narration, it is mentioned that Aboo Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him)asked him, “And which disease is more severe than miserliness?!” That is, which defect is worse than a person being described as miserly?
This hadeeth demonstrates the goodness of Aboo Bakr as a successor to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, his effortstoward the establishment of his Sunnah ﷺ and his implementation of his promises ﷺ.
It shows that the ruler has the right to allocate a portion of the booty orFay’ to his deputies and the deputies of the Muslims, and it highlights the importance of paying off the debts of the deceased after his death..
