to bring a camel from his herd. The man went and looked for the
best one, and found a he-camel strong and well trained, which he
thought of taking to Abu Zarr Radhiallaho anho but it occurred to
him that this was a fit animal for breeding, so he left it out and chose
the next best, which was a she-camel, and took it to Abu Zarr
Radhiallaho anho. By chance, Abu Zarr Radhiallaho anho saw the
he-camel which the man had selected first. So, Abu Zarr told the
man that he had committed a breach of trust. The man understood
the position and replaced the she-camel with the he-camel. Abu Zarr
Radhiallaho anho then asked the people around, if two of them
would volunteer to do a good deed for him. Two men came forward,
Abu Zarr asked them if they would slaughter the camel and divide
its meat into as many pieces as the number of houses along side the
water course and deliver a piece to each house. He also told them to
count his own house among those and. deliver a piece there of exactly
the same size as that for others. The two men agreed to do the
needful and accomplished the whole task.
Abu Zarr Radhiallaho anho then called the tribesman and asked
him if he had forgotten the promise, which he had made before and
told him that in that event, he had an excuse, or otherwise he had
intentionally overlooked that undertaking. The man replied that he
had not forgotten it and explained that when he looked round the
herd and found the he-camel to be the best in the whole lot; he
thought that this animal met Abu Zarr's needs and requirements.
Abu Zarr Radhiallaho anho enquired, "Did you really leave it for the
sake of my needs?" The man replied in the affirmative, whereupon
Abu Zarr Radhiallaho anho said, "Shall I tell you the time of my real
need? It shall be the time when I will be placed in the grave and that
would be the time of my utter helplessness and need! There are
three partners in your property. One is fate, which does not wait for
anything but would take away your property, good or bad (I may
think of a certain thing to be good and useful for a particular
occasion and keep it for that, but without knowing whether it would
be available at that particular time) In that case why should I not
deposit and reserve it now for Akhirah, in the treasures of Allah
Ta'ala. The other partner is your heir, who is always waiting for the
occasion when you would land in your grave and he would receive all
your property. The third partner is you yourself, (i.e you can use it
for yourself); therefore, try and make sure that you are not the least
recipient of all. Let it not happen that fate snatches it away and
renders it useless or the heir rushes to own it; the best of all would