Ramadan Message 2008 - Day 13

“And those who came after them say: "Our Lord! Forgive us and our brethren who came before us into the Faith and leave not in our hearts rancour (or sense of injury) against those who have believed our Lord! Thou art indeed Full of Kindness Most Merciful.”
(Qur'an 59 Verse 10)

MuslimMessage: A Story of Sacrifice

At a time when the Muslims were really afflicted with poverty, a man went to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and said, “O Messenger of Allah! Indeed, I am extremely hungry.” The Prophet (peace be upon him) sent a message to one of his wives, asking “Do you have any food with you?” She sent a reply: “No! By the One Who has sent you with the Truth, all I have with me is water.”

He then sent the same message to each of his wives. The answer from each of them was: “No! By the One Who has sent you with the Truth, all I have with me is water.” Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) said to his companions: “Who will be a host tonight, may Allah have mercy on him? A man from amongst the Ansar (the Helpers of Madinah) called Abu Talha stood and said, “O Messenger of Allah, I will be a Host tonight.”

Abu Talha went to his house and asked his wife, “Do you have any food at home?” She said, “All I have with me is a little food for our children.” He said, “Give them some excuses and then try to make them go to sleep! And when our guest comes, make him think we are also eating with him as he puts his hands forward to eat. Then go to the lamp and pretend that you are fixing it, but instead put it out. And give him the impression that we are eating, so that our guest eats and fills himself.”

She did what her husband asked her to do: she made her children sleep hungry, she placed the food before the guest, she stood to turn the lamp off, but she was giving the impression of simply adjusting the lamp. Then she sat with her husband and with the guest for the meal.

They sat idle as the guest ate. The guest didn’t even realised that he ate the whole meal by himself. He thought they had part of it.

The next morning as Abu Talha approached the Prophet, Allah’s Messenger said to him, “Last night Allah laughed and was pleased with your action.”

Then the following verse was revealed:
“But those who before them had homes (in Medina) and had adopted the Faith show their affection to such as came to them for refuge and entertain no desire in their hearts for things given to the (latter) but give them preference over themselves even though poverty was their (own lot). And those saved from the covetousness of their own souls they are the ones that achieve prosperity.” (Qur'an 59 Verse 9)

What an excellent display of sacrifice. There are many lessons to learn from this story, here are a few: the leader offers to help personally before seeking help from others; all Sacrifices are recognised by Allah; the wife trusted her husband’s judgement, thus followed his advise and did not object though her children and herself had to suffer hunger that night; do not deny a complete stranger any assistance you can offer; husband and wife are allowed to eat in the same plate with a stranger; even the Allah’s own messenger had no meal in his house and he was patient.

The Prophet (pbuh) said: “The most excellent sadaqah consists in your satisfying a hungry stomach.” (Bayhaqi)