The Companions of the Prophet

THE COMPANIONS OF THE PROPHET something after history has cast a mantle of greatness upon it and doing so beforehand. The Quran has explained the difference in these words: Those of you who spent and fought before the victory will be higher in rank than those who spent and fought afterwards.191 Spending One’s Wealth for the Sake of a Truth which has Yet to be Established The following incident has been related to Ibn Abi Hatim under the authority of ‘Abdullah ibn Mas’ud. When the verse of the Quran—“Who will offer God a generous loan? He will double it for him and give him a rich reward.”192 —was revealed, Abu Dahdah of the Ansar asked the Prophet if God wanted them to “lend Him a loan,” The Prophet replied in the affirmative. “Give me your hand,” Abu Dahdah said to the Prophet. The Prophet put his hand in Abu Dahdah’s as the latter told him he would lend his whole orchard—six hundred date palms—to his Lord. His wife, Umm Dahdah, was then in the orchard with her children. Abu Dahdah came and told her to leave it, for he had donated it to the Lord on High. “What a good deal you have made!” Umm Dahdah exclaimed, immediately taking her children and belongings out of the orchard. “How many trees— luxuriant and laden with fruit—will Abu Dahda have in paradise,” the Prophet said of this donation.