How Can One Motivate Oneself to be Like ‘Abdur Rahman Ibn ‘Awf and Uthman (Allah be pleased with them)?
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
I found a hadith, but I am not sure about the reference, which says, ‘Abdul Rahman ibn Awf or Uthman (Allah be pleased with them both) will enter paradise by crawling. And the rich will enter later than the poor. These things make me uninterested in being rich. Still, I wanted to be rich to pay zakat, to help the Umma, to serve the Umma, and to take great initiatives to travel the places of the earth, to do science experiments, and to enjoy the blessings of Allah Most High.
Can you please explain those hadith so that I can motivate myself? Also, people say that wealth is a blessing of Allah; how can the blessings of Allah make Uthman and Abd al-Rahman (Allah be pleased upon them) late to paradise than the poor?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.
I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.
It is the very reason that Uthman and ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Awf (Allah be pleased with them both) will enter Paradise because of their intention to spend their wealth in the path of Allah Most High and their overall righteousness. If we have the same intentions, work on our righteousness, and be mindful of Allah Most High, even if we were not destined with so much wealth, Allah Most High will reward us according to our sincerity and hopefully enter us with the poor earlier, in sha Allah.
‘Abdur Rahman Ibn ‘Awf and ‘Uthman (Allah be pleased with them)
‘Abdur Rahman Ibn ‘Awf and ‘Uthman (Allah be pleased with them both) are from the ten companions who were given glad tidings of Paradise in the following hadith.
‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Awf narrated that the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “Abu Bakr will be in Paradise, ‘Umar will be in Paradise, ‘Uthman will be in Paradise, ‘Ali will be in Paradise, Talha will be in Paradise, Zubair will be in Paradise, ‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Awf will be in Paradise, Sa‘d will be in Paradise, Sa‘id will be in Paradise, and Abu ‘Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah will be in Paradise.” [Tirmidhi]
‘Abd al-Rahman Ibn ‘Awf Entering Crawling in Paradise
A narration like your question appears in the Musnad of Imam Ahmad. Hafiz Ibn Hajar (Allah be pleased with him) is of the opinion that this is probably from those hadiths of which there are other examples that Imam Ahmad (Allah have mercy on him) had instructed to be removed from his collection, for some reason it wasn’t removed or that it was removed but somehow found its way back. Imam Ahmad (Allah have mercy on him) himself has firmly dismissed this hadith. [Ibn Iraq, Tanzih al-Sharia al-Marfu’a An Al-Akhbar al-Shani’a al-Mawdu’a; Suyuti, Tadrib al-Rawi in the footnotes of Shaykh Awwama]
Poor Enter Paradise Long Before the Wealthy
Abu Huraira (Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “The poor Muslims will enter Paradise before the rich by half of a day, the length of which is like five hundred years.” [Tirmidhi]
Allah Most High, give us all success to carry good actions, be mindful of Him, always and enter us into Paradise with our loved ones, Amin.
Related:
- Bringing Barakah Into Your Wealth and Life
- Neediness & Thankfulness: Two Keys to Divine Assistance
- Wealth Archives
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I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally-trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.
