Hazrat Zubair (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) was thereafter martyred and he left neither Dinaars nor Dirhams (in his estate). All he left were a few properties, among which were his property in Ghaabah, eleven properties in Madinah Munawwarah, two properties in Basrah, one property in Kufah and one property in Egypt.

The only reason that he had incurred debts was that a person would bring wealth to him and ask him to safeguard it as amaanah (a trust). Hazrat Zubair (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) would tell the person, “No (i.e. I will not keep it as amaanah)! Rather, it is a loan, as I fear that it may be lost and destroyed (i.e. if I keep it as amaanah and it is lost or destroyed, and the loss is neither my fault nor through my negligence, then the law of Shari‘ah is that the one in whose possession the amaanah was kept will not be liable for it, and you will have to bear the loss. It is for this reason that I wish to take it as a loan, so that in the event of it being lost or destroyed, I will be liable to replace it, and this will be in your interest. In this way, your wealth will be completely secure and safeguarded, and if any person’s wealth is destroyed, there will be no suspicion leveled against me).

Hazrat Zubair (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) had never accepted the post of governor, had never become a tax collector and had never accepted any other form of position (through which he could have earned wealth. Hence, all these properties that he owned had been earned through no other avenue), except that he had participated in Jihaad with Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam), or with Hazrat Abu Bakr (radhiyallahu ‘anhu), Hazrat ‘Umar (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) or Hazrat ‘Uthmaan (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) (hence, he had purchased these properties through the wealth that he had earned through Jihaad). Hazrat ‘Abdulah bin Zubair (radhiyallahu ‘anhuma) thereafter said, “When I calculated his debt, I found it amounting to 2.2 million.”

(to be continued insha Allah)

(Saheeh Bukhaari #3129, Kashful Baari pg. 279)