“By Allah, I am not leaving behind any problem more difficult than the one who leaves behind an heir. I asked the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and he never spoke so harshly to me about anything as he spoke to me about this. He jabbed his finger into my side or my chest and said: ‘O ‘Umar, sufficient for you is the Verse that was revealed in summer, at the end of Surat An-Nisa’.”  

وَقَالَ إِنِّي وَاللَّهِ مَا أَدَعُ بَعْدِي شَيْئًا هُوَ أَهَمُّ إِلَىَّ مِنْ أَمْرِ الْكَلاَلَةِ وَقَدْ سَأَلْتُ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ ﷺ فَمَا أَغْلَظَ لِي فِي شَىْءٍ مَا أَغْلَظَ لِي فِيهَا حَتَّى طَعَنَ بِإِصْبَعِهِ فِي جَنْبِي أَوْ فِي صَدْرِي ثُمَّ قَالَ يَا عُمَرُ تَكْفِيكَ آيَةُ الصَّيْفِ الَّتِي نَزَلَتْ فِي آخِرِ سُورَةِ النِّسَاءِ  

“There are three things, if the Messenger of Allah ﷺ had clarified them, that would have been dearer to me than the world and everything in it: a person who leaves behind no heir, usury, and the caliphate.”  

لأَنْ يَكُونَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ بَيَّنَهُنَّ أَحَبُّ إِلَىَّ مِنَ الدُّنْيَا وَمَا فِيهَا الْكَلاَلَةُ وَالرِّبَا وَالْخِلاَفَةُ  

“I fell sick and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came to visit me, he and Abu Bakr with him, and they came walking. I had lost consciousness, so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ performed ablution and poured some of the water of his ablution over me. I said: ‘O Messenger of Allah, what should I do? How should I decide about my wealth?’ Until the Verse of inheritance was revealed at the end of An-Nisa’: “If the man or woman whose inheritance is in question has left neither ascendants or descendents.” [4:12] And: “They ask you for a legal verdict. Say: ‘Allah directs (thus) about those who leave neither descendants nor ascendants as heirs.’” [4:176]  

سَمِعَ جَابِرَ بْنَ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ يَقُولُ مَرِضْتُ فَأَتَانِي رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ يَعُودُنِي هُوَ وَأَبُو بَكْرٍ مَعَهُ وَهُمَا مَاشِيَانِ وَقَدْ أُغْمِيَ عَلَىَّ فَتَوَضَّأَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ ﷺ فَصَبَّ عَلَىَّ مِنْ وَضُوئِهِ فَقُلْتُ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ كَيْفَ أَصْنَعُ كَيْفَ أَقْضِي فِي مَالِي حَتَّى نَزَلَتْ آيَةُ الْمِيرَاثِ فِي آخِرِ النِّسَاءِ {وَإِنْ كَانَ رَجُلٌ يُورَثُ كَلاَلَةً} الآيَةَ وَ {يَسْتَفْتُونَكَ قُلِ اللَّهُ يُفْتِيكُمْ فِي الْكَلاَلَةِ} الآيَةَ