Why The Richest Companion Died Broke

Business doesn't distract you from the deen. Business can bring you closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'. Ala. As long if you want to go into business, if you want to be an entrepreneur, you cannot do it as a side game.

What if he doesn't work?

But this is a problem. When they were going to perform the hijra, he took his wealth and he spent all of it.

Where did that dependence come from? How did they build it up to the point where they could give all their wealth?

Because he had that reliance upon Allah subhanahu wa ta'. Ala. The wife, Abu Bakr Radian, who he said, look, I want to eat something sweet. He tells her, I can't afford it. When Abu Bakr Radian risked everything, did his children not eat? The treasures of Rome and Persia were at the feet of these sahaba. And it really comes from.

Welcome to a new episode where we analyze the story of Islam and take takeaways to apply in our business and grow wealth. For the sake of Allah, I'll let you lead. Inshallah. Who do you want to start with? We want to learn as much as we can on the sahaba, specifically how they were running their businesses because they were after Prophet, some of the best human on earth, and they were also Allah, a lot of them business owners. A lot of the audience wants to be a business owner and they want to learn from the best. So who would you like to start with?

I mean, if we look at principles in business, I think one of the key principles that I believe you teach Alhamdulillah, may Allah bless you, is honesty, you know, is being straightforward and honest with your customer base, so. So that you build that rapport. And we can see that lesson from a siddiq, Abu Bakr, a siddiq, the honest, the trustworthy Abu Bakr. That's why it's called a siddiq. Now what's amazing is people don't realize the life of Abu Bakr didn't start with just being the first Khalifa or being the close companion of the Prophet. Sallallahu alaihi wasallam.

What did he start?

But before that, he was a traitor. And a lot of people don't realize that business doesn't distract you from the deen. Business can bring you closer to Allah subhanahu wa ta'. Ala. As long as your priorities are set right, the people that get distracted are people without priorities.

What were Abu Bakr Al Sadiq's priorities?

So Abu Bakr Radian, who before Islam, even he was a trader. He used to bring cloth merchants from Syria and Yemen. And what he would do is he would be very honest with you with his customer base. A lot of people would trick. A lot of people would lie. A lot of people would hide defects.

They put a finger on the scale and mess with the weight.

Or even for example, in cloth, they would have defects. They would hide it until it's already sold and they would tell you, okay, you bought it that way. But Abu Bakr at times would bring a product and then tell the people, hey, look, look at this is a fault in it. I'm letting you know if you want to buy it or you don't. And I'm sure you've had personal experiences like that as well.

100% many times where you don't have either full confidence in your product or you know that you haven't disclosed everything about your product or what you're selling. And you feel that, that hardness in your heart. You're like, I'm missing something. And sometimes we actually end up disclosing it with the, with the potential clients and they actually respect you for it.

Have you had that in your personal 100?

I had clients where I would be honest with them and they would say, you know what? I would do business with you for longer. I would support you throughout your hardships because you're honest now you gain my trust. I don't care about your product. It's fine if it's wrong for now you'll fix it, but I'll stick with you. Whereas someone else might have a great product for now, but maybe later on I don't have trust with him.

And that's exactly the case of when he would do trades, he would bring the full picture. Good, the bad, the ugly, everything. And that's why he was beloved to do trade with by the Quraish. Now when the dawah started and the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam started giving the dawah and calling towards Tawheed Ubakar Adyan took his financial interest and invested them towards the deen.

Do you have an example of a story where he used his wealth 100%

and in fact many examples. I'm going to choose just a few of them. The first, when they were going to perform the hijra, he took his wealth that he had saved and he spent all of it to the point that he didn't leave anything at home because he had that reliance upon Allah. Subhanahu wa ta a' la. A lot of People today in business are scared to take risks. When you look at the sahaba, they had that tawakkul. They had their priority. So they depended on Allah. He took a risk.

Where did that dependence come from? How did they build it up to the point where they could give all their wealth and know that Allah would be the one providing for them?

And it really comes from building a relationship with Allah, building that cleanliness of the heart where you realize that Allah is the one that feeds you. Think about it. People think, oh my, how could I do business if I quit my job? How am I going to eat? Who fed you in the stomach of your mother? Who fed you when you were born and you couldn't even eat and you had no teeth and you had no job? Who put milk there where it did not exist to bring your risk to you? That is Allah. And Allah will give you a risk. You do what you can. So Bakr Radianhu, he spent all that wealth in the hijra. And his father Abu Khuhafa was not Muslim at the time. He came and he spoke to his daughter Asma and he said, what did your father leave you with? And she took some rocks and put them in a bag. Because his father, Abu Khahafa, Abu Bakr father, his name is Uthman, but he's known as Abu Khafah. He was blind, so she gave him this to let him think as if it's wealth. And look at the tarbiya he had of his daughter Subhanallah. You know, look at how beautifully he raised Asma Bintabi Bakr and Aisha Radianha. And when he went to Medina, he worked again. He didn't sit and wait on welfare or Social Security or government aid or. No, he worked and he earned. Now imagine he left his house, he left his business, he left Mecca. He gave up everything for the sake of Allah. When he got to Madinah, Allah blessed

him again, he started again.

And Allah blessed him again. Meaning he started again, but he also got successful again.

What business did he start when he got back?

Same thing. Cloth. That was his field.

So he stayed with the same business.

Yeah, till the end that was his field. Subhanallah, right. Abu Bakr Radian who then started a business in Medina. In Medina. Then whenever the priority came for the deen, he would give it away. Now imagine this. The battle of Tabuk comes. Umar IBN Khattab Radiallahu Anhu he wants to compete in good. Today we're just worried about competing in worldly things. And getting ahead. My car is better than yours and mine. No, the sahaba competed in good. So Umar said, this time I want to outdo Abu Bakr.

They were competing in who could do the best good deeds, exactly the most

sacrifice for sake of Allah, right? So Umar Radian, he took everything he had. He made it half, and he took half of it to give for the sake of Allah, for the battle of Tabuk. Now imagine not just your bank balance, not just your savings, everything. Like if he had two camels, one. If he had two mattresses, one of those, you know, four clothes, everything you

own, divided by half.

Everything divided by half. And he came to the masjid and

he put it and he gave me

for the sake of Allah. And it was more than the stack of it was higher because they stacked it in the masjid for the sake of Allah. Now look at this. Look at the question the Prophet, sallallahu alaihi wasallam asked. He didn't ask, omar, how much did you bring? Like today, if you want to donate to a cause? I said, how much do you want to donate? But the Prophet didn't ask. He said, how much have you left at home?

Okay, Subhanallah.

Subhanallah. They took the deen to be such a priority that it wasn't about numbers. It was, what did you leave at home? Like, if you come to me today and you tell me, I want to donate €10,000, right? And I tell you, well, how much is left in your bank account? Yeah, you're gonna be like, what? Like, how's that your business? You know, like, what the hell, I'm donating. And now you're questioning how much? That's my business, you know, but this is our mindset's wrong. Our wealth, ourselves is for the sake of Allah.

They assumed that everything they had was already for the sake of Allah.

Exactly. So Umar Radian says, o master of Allah, everything I have, I've made half. Half is for the home, half is I'm giving here, right? The Prophet said, may Allah bless it for you. Then he goes to Abu Bakr. Now, the stack of things Abu Bakr, he tells Abu Bakr, what did you leave at home? He said, I left Allah and his messenger a hundred percent of his wealth. Some of the ulema, they write, even though they do not senad, but they write that even like sewing needles and things like this, he took all of it, brought it everything, 100%.

Subhanallah.

Imagine if I today come to you and tell you, brother, there's a dawah project. And we really need some help. We need some finance. And you tell me, you know what, everything I have, my house, my car, food in my fridge, everything. Take it. Wouldn't you be worried that you're going to starve? Your children are going to starve. God, tell me this. Did the children of Abu Bakr starve? Or did Allah make him the Khalifa of the world? Did Allah bless him with power and izza and honor and bend the Romans and Persians in front of him?

Yes.

The treasures of Rome and Persia were at the feet of these sahaba. They didn't starve. They didn't perish. Abu Bakr gave away everything, and Allah blessed him that he went back to doing whatever business he could, wherever he had whatever he could. After Tabuk and Allah blessed, then Allah honored him, made him the first khalif of Islam.

Subhanallah. How did he have such tawkr that he would come back?

This is that connection with Allah. Subhanahu wa ta'. Ala. Today our hearts are muddied. Our hearts are not pure and clear. Today we have Alhamdulillah. We ask Allah that we have some ima and we have some, but we have shuh. You know, we have this jealousy of. You shouldn't get ahead of me, right? In Dunya, we're not worried about the Akhirah today. Worried about Dunya today. Look at Abu Bakr. When he gave away everything, Some of the Ansar from Medina would tell him, okay, you want to do business? I'm gonna. I have some cloth. You're good at selling it. I'm gonna give it to you. You do that business, we'll split the profits.

Okay? They're working together.

They're working together. And that is beautiful. They were trying to help each other. And today, as Muslims in the marketplace, we need to do that.

Yes.

So Abu Bakr, radiant, he went back working with some of these Ansar in the market of Medina, and he gained his wealth back. And then he gave it away so many more times until the Prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam left his Dunya. And then when the question came, who would be the one to lead this ummah? By the consensus, the ijma of this

Ummahu Bakr Subhanallah and you see how we can see he gave everything away. Most people, if you tell them I gave everything away, they would think that's the. The time when you had the peak of your life and from there it will go down.

But his peak came after. Now, what's interesting, when he became the Khalifa. Now he is the leader of the Muslim Ummah. He is the, you know, we don't have necessarily the concept of kings but the equal of a king. Right. He is, he is the president, the prime minister, the leader, whatever you want to call right. In Islamically we said the Khalifa. Yeah, but what does he do? He grabs his cloth and he's going to the marketplace. He doesn't want any money from the government. He doesn't want anything from Baytul Maal. He wants to earn his living. Still Amr Radian tells him, what are you doing? He said, I'm going to the market. He told him, no, if you're at the market, who's going to run the Ummah? Now here, Umar, he has this farasa, he has this intelligent foresight. Abu Bakr Adyan loves Zuhud. He doesn't want the Dunya. I don't want to take any meaning for Bayt al Mad. But Umar Din tells him, no, you need to stop your business. From now we will give you money from Hinda because you need to get paid to run your family. But you have to now dedicate your time to the Ummah. Your time is valued because that's what

he was the best at.

Yeah. So Ubakar Adyan doesn't want to. Finally he agrees, doesn't want to. But Umar Adyan convinces him. Then Abu Bakr tells him, when the people made hijra, when the Muhajirin would make hijra, what is the least amount that was given to somebody who came so they could survive? Give me that much.

If that was. Yeah, most of the times.

Can you imagine that today if they

had the ranking of a king, they would say, give me what the king and above.

Exactly. And he got the least. Now I'll tell you a beautiful hadith. At one time, the wife of Bakr Radianhu, she said, look, I want to eat something sweet. Now he's the Khalifa, he's the king, he's the president, he's the prime minister, he's all of that.

He could get any food, he could get anything.

He tells her, I can't afford it. So she tells him, in the money that we get, I'll save a little bit. A little bit, a little bit, a little bit, a little bit until we have enough just to buy some sweets. He tells her, why don't you save first, then we'll talk about it. So she saves, she saves, she saves, she saves. And she comes to him, she says, oh, Amir al Mu' mineen. Aba Bakr. I've saved it from the stipend that we get. Here's the money to buy some sweets. Abu Bakr says. It seems like Abu Bakr is getting paid too much. He takes that money, returns it to Bayt ul Mal and he says, cut my salary by that much.

Wouldn't people from this think that he was over saving or being to an extent stingy or withholding?

See? Absolutely not. He wanted to set a principle that the leaders of this ummah don't misuse the wealth of this ummah Subhanallah.

And what was he mainly using his

wealth for so himself? He would the stipend that he would get. He would run his house. But he wanted to run it at a minimalist perspective to set a precedence.

What would he do with the extra? What was extra?

So he had no extra. Okay, because he wasn't. When he was making his own money from business, he spent it as he wished. But when he was making a stipend from the government, he said, why would I have extra if I'm getting paid by the government? Right. And that's a very important principle. If you make your money, yes, barakallah, spend as you like. But if you're a public servant saying I have to get this paid to serve a service, then you cannot make extra there. Then you have to get your minimals.

Subhanallah. And that goes back to the principle we started with when it comes to being honest and honesty.

Honesty.

What would be the best lesson now that we know his story, that people could take from this episode inshallah and apply in their own lives?

I'm going to give you three. One is related to business because I know your audience, Mashallah. That many of them are entrepreneurs or going to be inshallah. Which is first, be honest. Be honest with your customers. Be honest with your timelines. Be honest. Set your expectations with honesty so that you can meet or exceed expectations.

What if they're afraid that they would lose if they're too honest and people won't buy from them.

But this is the problem that they don't realize that if you look at the principles of the Sahaba, honesty made them successful in business and in deen. When you're honest, you may lose some business at first, but your honesty will develop a trust with your customer base. That will develop loyalty.

You know what's interesting? In today's day and age, in 2026, we're entering what's called a trust recession. It's interesting that you mentioned this.

That's Interesting.

Customers are afraid of buying off of new businesses that don't have social proof or previous reviews or existing customers. They'll be like, I don't trust it. I don't want to be the guinea pig.

Makes sense.

I'd rather someone. Because so many people abused other people's trust and now one of the biggest drivers in business, this is for Muslims and non Muslims, of course, is trust.

Yeah.

If you look into the headlines of what is one of the key to grow your business in, in today's day and age is building trust with your

customers, then that comes with honesty.

And that is something we know in 2026 that the Sahaba knew 14 and

a half centuries ago. The next is don't be afraid to risk it. If you want to go into business, if you want to be an entrepreneur, when you, you cannot do it as a side gig, it has to be your main gig.

That will resonate with a lot of people. They're working a job and they're afraid. They want to start their own business, but they're afraid of taking that leap of faith and not being able to provide for their families, for example. Or what if it doesn't work?

Look, but this is the thing. When Abu Bakr Radian risked everything and gave everything away. Gave everything away. Did he starve? Did he die? Did his children not eat?

He elevated. Yeah.

Allah subhanahu wa ta'. Ala. Elevated. If you want to start a business and it can't be a side gig, if it's a side gig, it fails. It has to be your priority. You have to take that leap, take that chance. If you haven't put all your ducks in that boat or those eggs in that basket, then you're not going to work hard. Survival, you know, Tariq bin Ziyad, I don't know if Tariq bin Ziyad, if you look at from the north of Africa that came, one of the famous things in history is when he landed at the shores of Spain, he burnt the boats. He told the people, said, look, either we'll be Ghazi or Shaheed victorious or Shuhada, there's no going back.

It will also say, your back is against the wall. You don't have a dream.

Exactly. So this is where the English idiom comes from. Burning your boats from Tariq bin Ziyad. So when he burnt the boats, it was like, okay, we have to win. That's what you. If you want to be successful in business, this is what you got to do. You got to burn everything else and Be like, this is my only thing that I got to be successful.

Subhanallah. So be honest.

Be honest.

Burn the boats. What's the third advice?

The last thing? Make the akhirah your priority. Do your business, earn your money. Thinking that with this, I'm going to support the deen. I'm going to look, I'm sick of people begging. I want our ummah to be giving. I want our ummah to be wealthy. I want our ummah to stand strong. So when you're there, think, I want to be the next Abu Bakr. When the Islamic project comes, I want to be the one that says, you know what? I'll take the whole project. I'll give you whatever you need. I'm not just going to give a little bit. I'll do the whole thing. But to get there, you need to develop yourself as a businessman. You need to develop yourself on wealth. If you don't have, what are you going to give?

And we can see that the impact of what they ended up giving. Exactly everything that happened. A lot of the people who are Muslim today would not have been if it wasn't for what the sahaba did thanks to the Prophet.

True. So this is why the third is make your niya in your business for the akhirah, work in this dunya. Niya for the akhirah. This dunya is like the water that the boat's upon. You need to tread the water. If you don't have water, your boat's not going to go anywhere. But you don't let the water get inside the boat. Otherwise he sinks, you sink.

That was amazing.

My pleasure.

So we said in summary, if you want to be a great business owner, be honest when you're starting your business, go all in. Don't look back. Put your back against the wall and go all in. And always keep in mind that is the most important. You're starting your business for the sake of Allah so that you can earn wealth, control wealth. Don't let not let wealth control you. And do it for the sake of Allah. And we have an amazing example with a fasahabas.