Sahaba - The Blessed

that sort were said to Hadrat Abbâs and to Durra, who was Abû
Lahab’s daughter. Such statements indicate superiority in one
respect, which is termed Fadl-i-juz’î, rather than that which is in
every respect. They are like the statement, “I have seen a lion in
the public bath,” which means, “I have seen someone as powerful
as a lion.” A person who says so has not seen someone who has a
mane and paws like those of a lion.
Question 4: Hadrat Alî ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’ was very
generous. An âyat-i-kerîma praises him for that superiority.
Answer 4: That Hadrat Alî ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ was utterly
generous is an absolute fact. And he had many another superior
merit as well. We all believe that Hadrat Alî did have all those
merits and he was superior to most of the Ashâb-i-kirâm. What we
have been trying to explain, however, is that the Shaikhayn were
superior to him. There are two kinds of generosity. One of them is
liberality in dispensing one’s own property to needy people. The
second one is the even-handedness of the people in charge of the
Islamic State’s treasury called Bayt-ul-mâl in giving the allowances
(of the people specified by Islam’s social code). In both the kinds
of generosity were the Shaikhayn superior par excellence. The
profusion of the property which Hadrat Abû Bakr dispensed for
the sake of the Messenger of Allah both before and after the Hijrat
is a common report of all books of Siyer. When he dispensed ten
thousand gold coins for the sake of Allah one night, ten more
thousand the following day, ten more thousand in private, and ten
more thousand in public, the thirty-sixth âyat of Nisâ Sûra was
revealed and he was commended and praised by Allâhu ta’âlâ.
Our Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ stated, “Of all my
Sahâba, Abû Bakr has been the most helpful to me both with
respect to sohbat and in property.”
He gave all his property for the Holy War of Tabuk. Hadrat
’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’ also dispensed a great amount of
property in the way of Allah. He gave half of his property for the
Holy War of Tabuk. There is not a single narration reporting that
Hadrat Alî dispensed an equal amount of property. He was in
Rasûlullah’s ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’ care. Nor did he have
any property after the Hijrat. The Shaikh-ayn would dispense the
entire treasury income to the people during their caliphates,
assigning for themselves a stipend that would suffice them only to
make a living. The amount which Hadrat Alî dispensed to the
people during his caliphate was not even one-thousandth the
amount they had dispensed. A widely-known dramatic episode is
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