Part of Riyad as-Salihin — Gardens of the Righteous (series completed)
· Lesson 65 of 190
Riyadh Al-Salehin | Episode (75) | Chapter on the virtue of hunger, harsh living, and abandoning desires (5)
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Transcript
Machine translation — may contain errors
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From Riyad al-Salihin, from the words of the Master of the Messengers, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him:
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Chapter on the Virtue of Hunger and an Austere Life,
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and Being Content with Little Food, Drink, Clothing,
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and other bodily desires, and renouncing worldly passions.
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On the authority of Jabir, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
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On the Day of the Trench, while we were digging,
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a huge, impenetrable rock obstructed us.
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So they came to the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, and said:
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"This hard rock has appeared in the trench."
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He said, "I am going down."
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Then he stood up with a stone tied over his stomach,
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for we had remained for three days without tasting any food.
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The Prophet (peace be upon him) took the pickaxe and struck it,
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and it turned into a mound of soft, flowing sand.
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So I said, "O Messenger of Allah,
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grant me permission to go home."
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I said to my wife:
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"I have seen something in the Prophet (peace be upon him)
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that I can no longer bear patiently.
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Do you have anything?"
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She said:
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"I have some barley and a young female goat."
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So I slaughtered the young goat and she ground the barley,
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until we placed the meat into the cooking pot.
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Then I went to the Prophet (peace be upon him),
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as the dough had softened and fermented,
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and the cooking pot on the hearthstones was almost done.
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I said:
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"I have a small meal,
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so come, O Messenger of Allah, along with one or two men."
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He asked, "How much is it?"
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So I mentioned it to him.
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He said:
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"That is plenty and good!
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Tell her not to remove the cooking pot or the bread from the oven until I arrive."
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Then he said:
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"Get up!"
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So the Emigrants (Muhajirun) and the Ansar stood up.
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I entered upon my wife and said:
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"Woe to you!
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The Prophet (peace be upon him) has come,
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along with the Emigrants, the Ansar, and all who are with them!"
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She asked:
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"Did he ask you?"
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I said, "Yes."
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He said:
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"Enter, and do not crowd one another."
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He began breaking the bread,
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putting the meat upon it,
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and covering the cooking pot and the oven whenever he took from them.
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He would serve it to his Companions and then take more.
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He continued breaking bread and ladling stew until they were all full, and food still remained.
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Then he said:
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"Eat of this and give it as a gift,
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for the people have been stricken with severe hunger."
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Agreed upon.
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And in another narration:
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Jabir said:
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When the Trench was being dug,
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I noticed severe hunger in the Prophet, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him.
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So I returned home to my wife and said:
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"Do you have anything?
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For I saw severe hunger in the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him."
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She brought out a leather bag containing a sa' of barley,
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and we had a tame young goat.
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So I slaughtered it,
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and she ground the barley,
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finishing when I finished.
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I cut up the meat into its cooking pot,
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then I turned to head towards the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.
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She said:
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"Do not humiliate me before the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and those with him!"
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So I went to him and whispered to him,
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saying:
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"O Messenger of Allah,
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we have slaughtered a small goat of ours,
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and ground a sa' of barley,
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so please come with a small group."
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But the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) called out aloud, saying:
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"O people of the Trench!
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Jabir has prepared a feast,
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so come along!"
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Then the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
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"Do not take down your cooking pot,
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nor bake your dough until I arrive."
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I came home, and the Prophet (peace be upon him) arrived leading the people,
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until I reached my wife,
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and she said:
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"May this and that happen to you!"
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I said:
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"I did only what you told me."
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She brought out the dough,
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and he spat slightly into it and blessed it.
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Then he went over to our cooking pot,
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spat slightly into it and blessed it.
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Then he said:
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"Call another woman to bake alongside you,
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and ladle out from your cooking pot,
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but do not take it off the fire."
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And they were one thousand men.
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I swear by Allah,
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they ate until they left it and turned away,
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while our cooking pot was still boiling with stew just as it was,
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and our dough was still being baked into bread just as it was.
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His saying:
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"A hard rock obstructed us" (aradat kudyah):
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It is a thick, solid piece of earth
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which an axe cannot break.
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And al-katheeb (mound):
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It originally means a sand dune,
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and what is meant here
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is that it turned into fine dust,
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which is the meaning of aheel (flowing smoothly).
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And al-athafi (hearthstones):
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The stones upon which the cooking pot rests.
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And "do not crowd one another" (la tadaghatu):
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Do not push or jostle each other.
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And al-maja'ah:
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Hunger.
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And hunger...
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And al-khamas:
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It means hunger and an empty stomach.
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And "I returned" (inkafa'tu):
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Meaning, I turned back and went home.
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And al-bahimah:
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The diminutive of bahmah,
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which is a young female goat ('anaq).
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And al-dajin:
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An animal that is domesticated and kept at home.
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And al-su'r:
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Food to which people are invited,
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and the word has Persian origins.
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And "hayya hala":
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Meaning, come along.
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Meaning, she scolded him and showed distress,
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because she thought that what they had would not suffice them,
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so she felt embarrassed,
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unaware of the honor that Allah, Glorified and Exalted be He, bestowed upon His Prophet (peace be upon him)
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through this evident miracle and magnificent sign.
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Basaqa:
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Meaning, he spat slightly (basaqa),
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and it is also pronounced bazaqa,
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three dialectal variants.
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And 'amada:
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Meaning, he went directly toward.
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Iqdahi:
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Meaning, ladle out.
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And al-miqdahah:
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The ladle.
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And taghittu:
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Meaning, it was bubbling and boiling with a sound.
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And Allah knows best.
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"We had not tasted any food":
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Meaning, we did not eat anything during that time.
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Al-mi'wal:
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Meaning, the pickaxe.
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Al-'anaq:
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The young female goat.
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"The dough had softened" (inkasara):
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Meaning, it became soft, moist,
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and thoroughly leavened.
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Al-tannur:
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The clay oven in which bread is baked.
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"Woe to you" (wayhaki):
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A word expressing mercy and sympathy.
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"He covered the cooking pot and the oven":
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Meaning, he placed a cover over them both.
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Among the benefits derived from the hadith:
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Encouragement of mutual cooperation in work that brings benefit to the Muslims,
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and this is seen clearly in the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) joining his Companions in the labor.
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The immense love of the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them, for the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).
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The keenness of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) that good should encompass all of his Companions,
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as he invited them all to the meal.
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A fighter should not leave his position except with the permission of the commander.
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The miracle of multiplying the food for the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.
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The believers' empathy and care for one another,
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and their preference of their brothers over their own selves.
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The recommendation of giving food as gifts, especially in times of hardship and hunger.
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On the authority of Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, who said:
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Abu Talhah said to Umm Sulaym:
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"I heard the voice of the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, sounding faint,
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and I recognized hunger in it.
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Do you have anything?"
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She said, "Yes."
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She brought out some loaves of barley bread,
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then took a headscarf of hers,
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wrapped the bread in part of it,
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tucked it under my garment, and wrapped me with the rest of it.
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Then she sent me to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him.
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I went with it
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and found the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) sitting in the mosque with the people around him.
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I stood by them,
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and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said to me:
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"Did Abu Talhah send you?"
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I said, "Yes."
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He said, "With food?"
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I said, "Yes."
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The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, "Stand up!"
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So they set off, and I ran ahead of them until I reached Abu Talhah and informed him.
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Abu Talhah said,
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"O Umm Sulaym!
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The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) has arrived with the people,
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and we do not have enough to feed them."
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She replied,
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"Allah and His Messenger know best."
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So Abu Talhah went out until he met the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him),
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and the Messenger of Allah came along with him until he entered the house.
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The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) then said,
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"Bring whatever you have, O Umm Sulaym."
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So she brought that bread,
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and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) ordered it to be broken,
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so it was broken into pieces,
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and Umm Sulaym squeezed a leather butter-container over it, making it into a seasoned dish.
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Then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) supplicated over it whatever Allah willed him to say,
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and then said,
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"Admit ten men."
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So he admitted them,
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and they ate until they were full, and then left.
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Then he said,
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"Admit ten men."
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Until all the people had eaten and were completely full,
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and they were seventy or eighty men.
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Agreed upon.
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In another narration:
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"Ten would continuously enter and ten would leave,
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until not one of them remained except that he entered and ate until he was full.
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Then he gathered it until he was full—
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then he gathered it together,
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and it was just as full as it had been before they ate from it."
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In another narration:
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"So they ate ten at a time,
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until he had done that with eighty men.
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Then the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the household ate after that,
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and they left behind leftovers."
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In another narration:
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"Then they had leftovers that they distributed to their neighbors."
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And in a narration from Anas, he said:
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"I came to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) one day,
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and found him sitting with his Companions,
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having bound a sash tightly around his stomach.
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So I asked some of his Companions,
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'Why has the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) bound his stomach?'
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They replied, 'Out of severe hunger.'
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So I went to Abu Talhah—
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I went to Abu Talhah,
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who was the husband of Umm Sulaym bint Milhan,
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and said, 'O my father!
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I saw that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) has bound his stomach with a sash,
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so I asked some of his Companions,
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and they said it was out of hunger.'
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So Abu Talhah went in to see my mother
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and asked, 'Do you have anything?'
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She said, 'Yes,
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I have some crusts of bread and a few dates.
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If the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) comes to us alone,
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we can satisfy his hunger,
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but if someone else comes with him,
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it will be too little for them.'"
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And he recounted the rest of the hadith.
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*Khimar* means head-covering.
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*Dassat*
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means she slipped it in firmly and securely.
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*Wa-raddatni bi-ba'dihi*
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means she wrapped me in part of the head-covering.
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*Halummi*
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means bring forward.
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*'Ukkah*
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means a round leather container
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specifically used for clarified butter (ghee) and honey,
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most especially for clarified butter.
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*Adamath*
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means she turned what came out of it into a condiment for the bread.
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*Hayya'aha*
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means he gathered it together after all of them had eaten.
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*Mithluha*
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means in the exact same state it was in before they ate from it.
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*Su'ran*
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means leftover food.
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*Afdalu*
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means they retained extra food
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*Ma balaghu jiranahum*
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means which they sent as a gift to their neighbors.
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*'Asaba*
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means he tied tightly.
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*Kisar*
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means broken pieces of bread.
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Among the derived lessons of the hadith:
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The permissibility of acting upon intuition (*firasah*) and contextual cues (*qara'in*),
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as Abu Talhah deduced the Prophet's severe hunger from the faintness of his voice.
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The permissibility of inviting people to a meal while inside the mosque,
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as well as accepting the invitation from there.
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The permissibility of inviting someone for a meal even if it is not a formal feast.
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The permissibility of inviting a large group to partake in a small amount of food.
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If the invitee knows that the host does not mind others attending along with him,
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then there is no harm in bringing others with him.
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The hadith demonstrates the sharp intellect and sound discernment of Umm Sulaym,
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as she realized that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
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had intentionally invited the large gathering
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in order for the miracle of multiplying the food to be manifested,
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which is why she said:
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"Allah and His Messenger know best."
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The Companions' deep concern for the conditions and well-being of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).
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The miracle of the multiplication of food through the blessing (*barakah*) of the Prophet (peace be upon him).
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The permissibility of eating until one is full,
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for the hadith states: "and they ate until they were full."
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The permissibility of admitting guests in groups of ten,
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if the need arises to do so,
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due to scarcity of food or lack of seating space.
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Anas addressing Abu Talhah as "O my father"
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was out of respect and good manners,
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for Abu Talhah was otherwise his mother's husband (stepfather).
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Umm Sulaym's statement:
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"Allah and His Messenger know best"
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was specific to the lifetime of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him),
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because he received knowledge through divine revelation.
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As for after his death,
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divine revelation has ceased,
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so the correct practice is not to say this expression after his death (peace be upon him);
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rather, one should simply say:
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"Allah knows best."
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*Riyad al-Salihin* (The Meadows of the Righteous).