Share Hadith
Az-Zubayr ibn al-‘Awwām (may Allah be pleased with him) said to his son ‘Abdullāh on the Day of Al-Jamal, the battle that took place over the issue of turning in the assassins of ‘Uthmān ibn ‘Affān: "I do not see myself except an oppressed martyr, and that which concerns me are my debts, so I want you to settle them on my behalf." His debts were so much that they consumed all of his wealth. Despite that, he made a (verbal) will giving his grandchildren (‘Abdullāh's children) a share of the estate, because he knew that they were not entitled to a share of his estate given that his son was still alive. So he allocated for them one third of the bequeatheable third, which is one ninth of the whole. The people used to come and keep their money with him as a trust and he would refuse to take it from them as a trust lest it would be lost, so, he would say: "This is not a trust. It is a loan and a debt on me." Az-Zubayr was an ascetic trustworthy man who never wished to assume a post of authority and never did. When he died, and his son ‘Abdullāh paid off his debts, there remained an excess. The heirs asked him to divide it among them, but he refused to give them their shares until four Hajj seasons had passed during which he would call out seeking those to whom his father was indebted. When it became apparent that all his father's debt was paid off, he gave the heirs their shares. He gave an eighth to his father's wives, which was their legal share from the estate. At the time of his death, Az-Zubayr had four wives.
