The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page cclxxv
GENERAL INTRODUCTION every Divine act is worthy of praise and should be praised. Oh Allah! do Thou fill our hearts with these sentiments. " Sometimes he used these words: "All praise is due to God Who has satisfied our hunger and thirst. May our hearts ever yearn after His praise and never be ungrateful to Him. " He always admonished his Companions to stop before they had eaten their fill and used to say that one man's food should always suffice for two. Whenever any special food was prepared in his house he used to suggest that a portion of it should be sent as a present to his neighbours; and presents of food and other articles used constantly to be sent from his house to his neighbours' houses (Muslim and Bukhārī, Kitābul-Adab). He always tried to ascertain from the faces of those who were in his company whether any of them was in need of sustenance. Abu Hurairah relates the following incident: On one occasion he had been without food for over three days. He stood at the entrance to the mosque and observed Abū Bakr passing near. He asked Abu Bakr the meaning of a verse of the Quran which enjoins the feeding of the poor. Abū Bakr explained its meaning and passed on. Abū Hurairah when relating this incident used to say with indignation that he too understood the Quran as well as Abu Bakr did. His object in asking the latter to explain the meaning of the verse had been that Abu Bakr might guess that he was hungry and might arrange to get food for him. Shortly after, ‘Umar passed by and Abu Hurairah asked him also to explain the meaning of the verse. 'Umar also explained its meaning and passed on. Abu Hurairah, like all Companions of the Holy Prophet, was loath to make a direct request and when he perceived that his indirect attempts to draw attention to his condition had failed, he began to feel very faint. Thereupon he heard his name being called in a very soft and tender voice. Looking to the side from which the voice came he saw that the Holy Prophet was looking out from the window of his house and was smiling. He inquired of Abu Hurairah: "Are you hungry?" to which Abu Hurairah replied: "Verily, O Messenger of Allah! I am hungry. " The Holy Prophet said: "There is no food in our house either, but somebody has just sent us a cup of milk. Go to the mosque and see whether there are any other persons there who may be hungry like you. " Abū Hurairah goes on to relate: "I thought to myself, I am hungry enough to consume the whole of the milk in the cup, yet the Prophet has asked me to invite any other persons that may be in a similar situation, which means that I shall get very little of the milk. But I had to carry out the Prophet's orders, so I went into the mosque and found six persons sitting there whom I brought with me to the Prophet's door. He gave the cup of milk into the hands of one of them and asked him to drink. When he had finished and put away the cup from his ccxlix