Muhammad (saw) – The Perfect Man — Page 501
Muhammad sa The Perfect Man 501 be empty. " Before the commandment for ladies to cover themselves, sitting and eating with the guests was considered to make the guest feel honoured. So both the husband and wife sat with the guest to show him respect. The food was only enough for one person. After putting the food before the guest, Umm-e-Sulaim ra got up on the pretext of adjusting the lamp and extinguished it. Then both of them, the husband and the wife kept pretending that they were eating food, while in fact they were munching with empty mouths. They fed God's and His Messenger sa 's guest to his fill and themselves stayed hungry. God was so pleased with their self-sacrifice, sincerity and devotion that he informed the Holy Prophet Muhammad sa of this incident. When Ab u T al ha ra came to see H u du r sa , he told him that tonight God was pleased by their sacrifice and devotion. 14 A similar reference is found in this verse of the Holy Qur’ a n; َ ُ و ْ ﻳ ٴ ِ ﻮ ْ ﺛ َ ﺮو َن ٰ َ ْا ُ ﻧ ِ ﻔ ِ ﺴ ْ ﻬ َﻢ َ و ْ ﻟ َ ﻮ َ ِﺎن ِ ﺑ ْ ﻬ َﻢ َ ﺧ َ ﺼ ٌ ﺎﺻ ﺔ (59:10) "But prefer others to themselves even though poverty be their own lot. " Surge in the Number of the Guests and Divine Blessings The time of the battle of the Ditch was a time of famine and hardship for the Muslims. Hadrat J a bir ra describing these times says; "We