Who Will Buy From Me the Inheritance of ʿĀd?

And I would like to close with this saying of Sayyidunā Abū al-Dardāʾ. Sayyidunā Abū al-Dardāʾ was in Damascus, the capital of the Islamic Khilāfah at the time^*, and he saw the extravagance of the Muslim Ummah. The Muslims were so wealthy at that time, and the lifestyle of the Muslims was changing. Now they had so much wealth, so their lifestyle was changing. Abū al-Dardāʾ was on the strict ways that he was living on in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). He did not change, and he did not want the people to change.

So he stood up in Damascus, and he said: yā ahla Dimashq, yā ahla Dimashq, alā tastaḥyūn? Tajmaʿūna mā lā taʾkulūn, wa tabnūna mā lā taskunūn, wa taʾmalūna mā lā tuṭīlūn. Wa inna man kāna qablakum kānū yajmaʿūna fa-yūʿūn, wa yabnūna fa-yūthiqūn, wa yaʾmalūna fa-yuṭīlūn. Fa-aṣbaḥa jamʿuhum būran, wa masākinuhum qubūran, wa āmāluhum ghurūrā. Alā inna ʿĀdan malakat mā bayna ʿAdana wa ʿUmāna khaylan wa rukbānā. Fa-man yashtarī minnī mīrātha ʿĀdin bi-dirhamayn?

Abū al-Dardāʾ said: O people of Damascus, don't you have any shame? You are gathering wealth that you will not use, and you are building palaces which you will not live in, and you are expecting to live longer than your life. And the people before you, they used to gather, and use what they gathered. And they used to build — and they would build better than you. And they used to live longer than your life. But then, whatever they gathered did not do them any good, and their palaces became their graveyards, and their desires were false. And remember that the people of ʿĀd had an army that extends from Aden up to Oman. Who will buy from me the remnants of ʿĀd with two dirhams? Who's going to buy from me the inheritance of ʿĀd with two dirhams?

They left nothing. This huge nation — if you would put it in the auction to sell it, it will not even fetch a dollar for you. There's nothing left. So we need to remember that whatever we see around us will not do us any good. And if we disbelieve in Allah, and the ayat of Allah, and disbelieve in the messengers of Allah like ʿĀd did, Allah (swt) will include us in severe punishment. And if we stick to the truth that we have — that we have with us now — and we keep away from the ways of the non-believers, and have our unique identity, and we are proud with what Allah (swt) has given us, then whenever Allah (swt) punishes the non-believers, Allah (swt) would save the ones who believed in Him.