The Messenger of Allah ﷺ came to visit him while he was ill in Makkah. He said, "Messenger of Allah, I fear that I may die in the land from which I migrated, just as Saad bin Khawla died. So pray to Allah to cure me."The Prophet said, "O Allah, cure Saad. O Allah, cure Saad. O Allah, cure Saad."He then said, "Messenger of Allah, I have a great deal of wealth, and I have no heir except a daughter. Shall I bequeath all of my wealth?"He replied, "No."He asked, "Shall I bequeath two-thirds of it?"He replied, "No."He asked, "Shall I bequeath half of it?"He replied, "No."He asked, "Shall I bequeath a third?"He said, "A third, and even a third is a lot. What you spend on yourself from your wealth is charity for you, what you spend on your dependents is charity for you, and what you spend on your family is charity for you. To leave your family in comfort," or he said "well off," "is better than to leave them destitute, begging from people."
حدثنا عفان حدثنا وهيب حدثنا أيوب عن عمرو بن سعيد عن حميد بن عبد الرحمن الحميري عن ثلاثة من ولد سعد
أن رسول الله ﷺ دخل عليه يعوده وهو مريض وهو بمكة فقال يا رسول الله قد خشيت أن أموت بالأرض التي هاجرت منها كما مات سعد ابن خولة فادع الله أن يشفيني قال اللهم اشف سعدا اللهم اشف سعدا اللهم اشف سعدا فقال يا رسول الله إن لي مالا كثيرا وليس لي وارث إلا ابنة أفأوصي بمالي كله قال لا قال أفأوصي بثلثيه قال لا قال أفأوصي بنصفه قال لا قال أفأوصي بالثلث قال الثلث والثلث كثير إن نفقتك من مالك لك صدقة وإن نفقتك على عيالك لك صدقة وإن نفقتك على أهلك لك صدقة وإنك أن تدع أهلك بعيش أو قال بخير خير من أن تدعهم يتكففون الناس
Its chain of transmission is sahih, despite what appears on its surface of the ambiguity of the three sons of Saad and of the disconnection, for they narrated the story here without saying it was from their father on their father's authority. Muslim related it in his Sahih, 2:9, through two routes from Ayub Sakhtiyani, one of them as here, and in the other from three of the sons of Saad, all of them narrating from their father that the Prophet came to visit Saad while he was ill, and so on.Nawawi said in his commentary, 11:81, this narration is mursal, while the first is connected, because the sons of Saad are followers (of the Companions). Muslim only mentioned these differing narrations, connected and disconnected, in order to show the disagreement among the narrators on this point. This disagreement does not undermine the soundness of this narration, nor the soundness of the basic hadith, because the basic hadith is established through a route other than that of Humayd from the sons of Saad, and its connected transmission from them is established in some of the routes that Muslim mentioned.We stated earlier, at the beginning of this commentary, that when a hadith is narrated both connected and disconnected, the sahih view held by the verifying scholars is that it is judged to be connected, because this counts as an addition from a trustworthy narrator. The hadith has come down as sahih through the narration of Amir bin Saad, Musab bin Saad, and Ayesha bint Saad, all of them narrating from their father Saad, and it has also come from others narrating from him. It will come again repeatedly, at length and in brief, including at numbers 1474, 1479, 1480, 1482, 1488, and 1501. The rest of the group (of hadith compilers) also related it through various routes, as found in Dhakhair Mawarith, 2087. See also Tabaqat Ibn Saad, 3/1/102-104.Amr bin Saeed Qurashi, also said to be Thaqafi, Basri, is a well-known trustworthy narrator.Humayd bin Abdul-Rahman Humayri Basri is a trustworthy follower and a jurist. Ibn Sirin said, "He is the most knowledgeable in jurisprudence among the people of Basra."