Hazrat Abdullah bin Umar (may Allah be pleased with them) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: It is not proper for any Muslim who has something to bequeath, that he should spend two nights without having his will written and kept with him.

Hazrat Sa’d bin Abi Waqqas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came to visit me during the year of the Farewell Pilgrimage (10 AH) when I was seriously ill. I said,“My illness has become severe, I have a lot of wealth and possessions, and I have only one daughter who will inherit from me. Should I give away two-thirds of my wealth in charity?”The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said,“No.”I said,“Half?”The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said,“No.”Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said,“Give away one-third, and even one-third is much, or a lot. If you leave your heirs wealthy after you, that is better than leaving them poor, begging from people. Remember, whatever you spend seeking Allah’s pleasure, you will be rewarded for it, even the morsel you put in your wife’s mouth.”Then I asked,“O Messenger of Allah! My companions are leaving me behind and going (for the Farewell Pilgrimage) to Makkah, and I am staying behind.”Upon this, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said,“If you remain here and do any good deed, your ranks will be raised because of it, and perhaps you will live on, and many people (Muslims) will benefit from you, and many (disbelievers and apostates) will be harmed by you.”(Then the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, prayed:)“O Allah! Grant my companions steadfastness in migration and do not turn their feet back.”But the one afflicted with calamity was Sa’d bin Khawlah, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) expressed sorrow over his death in Makkah.

Hazrat Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrated: I wish people would reduce (the bequest) to a quarter, that would be better, because the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said that you may bequeath a third, and a third is much, or (he said) it is a large amount.

Hazrat Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) narrated that a man asked the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) that his mother had passed away suddenly, and he thought that if she had the opportunity to speak, she would have given some charity. If he gave charity on her behalf, would she receive its reward? The Prophet replied: Yes, she would receive it.

Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrated that Umar bin Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) received a piece of land in Khaybar. So he went to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) to consult him and said, "O Messenger of Allah! I have received a piece of land in Khaybar, and I have never acquired wealth better than this. What do you command regarding it?" He (the Prophet) said, "If you wish, keep the original land in your possession and give its produce as charity." Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrated that then Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) gave it as charity on the condition that it would neither be sold, nor gifted, nor inherited. He gave it as charity (waqf) for the needy, relatives, freeing slaves, for the propagation and spread of Allah's religion, and for guests. And he said that its administrator, if he takes from it according to custom for his own needs or gives to a needy person, there is no blame on him. Ibn ‘Awn narrated that when I mentioned this hadith to Ibn Sirin, he said that (the administrator) should not intend to accumulate wealth from it.

Hazrat Talha bin Musarrif narrated that I asked Abdullah bin Abi Awfa (may Allah be pleased with him), "Did the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) make any bequest (wasiyyah)?" He replied, "No." Upon this, I asked, "Then how did bequest become obligatory upon people?" Or (the narrator reported it as), "Why were people commanded to make a bequest?" He said, "The Prophet (peace be upon him) advised people to act upon the Book of Allah." (And in the Book of Allah, there is a command to make a bequest.)

Aswad bin Yazid narrated that some people mentioned in the presence of Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) that Ali (may Allah honor his face) was the Prophet’s (peace be upon him) executor (wasiyy). She said,“When did he make him his executor? At the time of his death, his blessed head was on my chest—or she said, in my lap—and then he asked for a basin (of water), and his head fell into my lap, and I did not realize that he had passed away. So when did he make Ali his executor?”

Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that on Thursday, and do you know what Thursday is? Then he wept so much that even the pebbles became wet. Finally, he said that the severity of the illness of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) occurred on that Thursday, so he said to the companions, "Bring me pen and ink, so that I may write a document for you after which you will never go astray if you follow it." At this, there was a disagreement among the companions. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "It is not appropriate to argue in the presence of a Prophet." The companions said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is in a state of delirium due to the severity of his illness. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said, "Leave me in my present state, for the condition I am in is better than what you are calling me to." In the end, at the time of his death, he made three bequests: that the polytheists should be expelled from the Arabian Peninsula; secondly, that delegations should be treated in the same manner as he used to treat them (with hospitality, etc.); and the third instruction, I forgot.

Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that when the time of the Messenger of Allah’s (peace and blessings be upon him) death approached, many companions (may Allah be pleased with them) were present in the house. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said,“Bring (something), so that I may write a document for you; if you adhere to it, you will never go astray.”Upon this, (some people) said that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) is suffering from the severity of illness, and you have the Qur’an with you. The Book of Allah is sufficient for us. Then there was a dispute among the people in the house; some said,“Give the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) something to write with, so that he may dictate guidance for you and you will not go astray after that.”Others insisted on a different opinion. When the noise and dispute increased, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said,“Go away from here.”Ubaidullah narrated that Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) used to say that the greatest calamity was that, due to the people’s disagreement and noise, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) was not able to write that guidance for them.