<b>Guidance from the Hadith:</b><br> 1) Out of the mercy of Allah towards His believing servants, He has enabled them to benefit from the reward of the deeds they began during their life even after death.<br> 2) We should be keen to raise righteous children, for their righteousness is good for them and us, as they will supplicate for us after we die.<br> 3) Useful knowledge is the best thing a person can leave behind, for it endures for as long as Allah wills. Ongoing charity may come to an end one day, and a person’s righteous children will eventually die. So, beneficial knowledge is unparalleled in this regard, if the intention behind it is sincere. It is "the immortal child", as some scholars called it.<br> <br> <b>Benefit:</b><br> Al-Nawawi (may Allah have mercy upon him) said: “The scholars said: The Hadith means that a person’s deeds come to an end with his death, and so do the rewards for his deeds, except in the three things specified in the Hadith, given that he was the reason behind them. His children come and grow up due to his earning, and so does the useful knowledge he leaves behind in the form of teaching or books. Likewise, the ongoing charity is the endowment he has made. This points out the significance of getting married in the hope of having righteous children and also indicates the merit and great rewards of endowments and knowledge. We are thus encouraged to seek more and more knowledge and leave it behind through teaching, writing, or explaining. This also tells us that we should seek the most useful branches of knowledge and then the next most useful.” [Commentary on Sahih Muslim]<br> Al-Subki (may Allah have mercy upon him) said: “And writing books, of knowledge, is more effective, given that it endures throughout the passage of time.” [Fayd al-Qadir Sharh al-Jāmi‘ al-Saghir]