Hospitality
We find the following example of the hospitality of Hazrat Abu Talha (ra). Hazrat Abu Hurairah (ra) narrates that a man came to the Holy Prophet (sa), upon which the Holy Prophet (sa) asked someone to send word to his wives. They replied that they had nothing except water to offer. The Holy Prophet (sa) then asked who would help take care of this guest. Amongst the Ansar, one replied “I will”. Thus, the Ansar took this guest along with him and told his wife to extend the best hospitality possible as this was the guest of the Holy Prophet (sa). His wife replied that they had no food to give as all that was left was barely enough to feed their children. Her husband told her to prepare the remaining food for the guest, light up the oil lamp and when evening dinner time arrived, to put the children to bed. Thus, his wife prepared the food, lit up the oil lamp and tucked the children into bed. Then she got up and acted as if fixing the oil lamp and blew the candlelight off. Thus, the husband and wife made it appear as if they too had been eating, however they, in fact, spent the night on empty stomachs. In the morning, he went to the Holy Prophet (sa) who said, “Today Allah the Almighty smiled upon your act”, or he stated that “Allah the Almighty was extremely pleased with this act of theirs”. Then the following revelation was revealed:
وَیُؤْثِرُوْنَ عَلٰى أَنْفُسِہِمْ وَلَوْ کَانَ بِہِمْ خَصَاصَۃٌ وَمَنْ یُّوْقَ شُحَّ نَفْسِہٖ فَأُولٰئِکَ ہُمُ الْمُفْلِحُوْنَ
“…but prefer the Refugees to themselves, even though poverty be their own lot. And whoso is rid of the covetousness of his own soul — it is these who will be successful.”
(Surah al-Hashr, Ch.59: V.10) (Sahih al-Bukhari, Kitab Manaqib al-Ansar, Bab Qaul Allah Yu’thirun Ala Unfusihim, Hadith 3798) (Umdatul Qari, Vol. 16, p. 364, Dar-ul-Kutub al-Ilmiyyah, Beirut, 2001)