Worldly possessions and their moral consequences

416. Amīr al-mu’minīn, peace be upon him, said to his son al-Ḥasan (peace be upon him): O’ my son, do not leave anything of this world behind you, because you will be leaving it for either of two sorts of persons: Either a person who uses it in obeying Allāh, in this case he will acquire virtue through what was evil for you, or it will be a person who uses it in disobeying Allāh and in that case he will be earning evil with what you collected for him, and so you will be assisting him in his sinfulness; and neither of these two deserves to be preferred by you over yourself.

as-Sayyid ar-Raḍī says: This saying is also related in another version namely: Whatever of this world is now with you was with others before you and it will pass to some others after you. Thus, you are collecting things for either of two sorts of men: either a man who uses whatever you collected in obedience of Allāh and so acquires virtues with what was evil for you, or a man who uses it in disobedience of Allāh and so you will be getting evil for what you collected. And neither of these two is such that you may prefer him over yourself or you may burden yourself for him. Therefore, hope for the mercy of Allāh for him who has passed away and for Divine livelihood for him who survives.