Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 4597

Sayyiduna Qays bin Asim al-Minqari (may Allah be pleased with him) relates: I came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and when he saw me, I heard him say: This is the chief of the desert-dwellers. When I dismounted, I came to him and began talking with him, and I said: O Messenger of Allah! What is the wealth regarding which no burden falls on me, from a guest who stays with me as a guest, or from my many dependants (so that with this wealth no burden falls on me)? The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Good wealth is forty, and much wealth is sixty, and woe to the owners of hundreds, except the one who gives from them (the camels) in their ease and their hardship (in every state), lends out their backs for riding, slaughters the fat one, and feeds the one who asks and the needy one who does not ask. The narrator says: I said: O Prophet of Allah! How noble and how beautiful these manners are! O Prophet of Allah! In the valley where I live, there is no room because of the great number of my camels. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: What do you do? He said: The camels come in the morning, then the people come, and whoever wishes takes a camel by its head and leads it away. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: What do you do about lending animals for riding? I replied: I do not lend a young animal or an aged she-camel. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked: Is your wealth dearer to you, or the wealth of your mawali? I said: My wealth is dearer to me than the wealth of my mawali. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Then your share of your wealth is what you eat and consume, or wear and wear out, and what you give away you send ahead; otherwise all the rest is the wealth of your mawali (heirs). I said: By Allah, if I remain alive, I will use up their number (of camels). The narrator al-Hasan al-Basri says: He did so, by Allah. When the time of death approached Sayyiduna Qays (may Allah be pleased with him), he said: O my sons! Take advice from me, for no one is more sincere towards you than I am. When I die, make the eldest of you your chief; do not make the younger ones chiefs, or people will think you foolish and you will become lowly in their eyes. Take care of wealth, for it brings renown to the noble person and makes a man independent of the base person. Beware of begging, for it is the last means of earning; whoever begs abandons earning. When I die, do not wail over me, for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) forbade wailing. Shroud me in those very clothes in which I used to pray and fast. When you bury me, do not bury me in a place that anyone can come to know of, for there has been enmity between me and Bakr bin Wa'il since the days of ignorance (Jahiliyyah), and I fear that they will desecrate my grave, and as a result a distressing situation will arise for both your religion and your worldly life. Al-Hasan says: He was sincere towards them in his life, and he was sincere towards them in his death.
(Allamah al-Haythami says:) I say: Imam al-Nasa'i (may Allah have mercy on him) has narrated this from this Companion: "Do not wail over me, for no wailing was done over the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him)."
Al-Tabarani recorded it in al-Mu'jam al-Kabir, and in al-Mu'jam al-Awsat in abridged form. Its chain contains a narrator, Ziyad al-Khassas; he has been criticised, though he has also been declared trustworthy.