Abu Hurayrah narrates that while he was sitting with a group of Companions in the company of the Noble Prophet ﷺ a man came up and exclaimed: “O Messenger of Allah, I’m done for!”
“Why is that?” asked the Prophet.
“I had sexual relations with my wife while I was fasting,” the man said.
“Do you have a slave you could free?” the Prophet asked.
“No.”
“Are you able to fast two months consecutively?”
“No.”
“Are you able to feed sixty needy people?”
“No.”
The Prophet ﷺ was quiet for some time. Then someone brought him a basket full of dates.
The Prophet told the man: “Take this and give it away in charity.”
“Should I give it to people who are poorer than me, O Messenger of Allah? I swear by Allah, there is no household from one side of the city to the other poorer than my household!”
The Prophet broke into a smile so wide that his teeth could be seen.
“Feed your family with it,” he said.
(Sahih al-Bukhari no. 1936)
This hadith begins by describing a man in distress who believed he was ruined. His desires had got the better of him and He had transgressed, ruining his fast on one of the days of Ramadan. He could have kept this secret, but he realised the gravity of what he had done and his faith drove him to try to rectify the situation. We may sometimes think we have done something so terrible that we cannot be forgiven. This may drive us to despair and give up. Luckily, in his distress, this man made the best decision, which was to go to the Prophet ﷺ. This is what the Companions did when problems confronted them and we should also take our problems to him as we will find solutions to them in his teachings and his perfect example. Narrations such as this show us that the Companions weren’t perfect: they had desires like us and made mistakes like us. Had they all been absolutely faultless, there are many valuable lessons that we would not be able to learn.
The Prophet ﷺ did not become angry at this man’s transgression. He did not rebuke him or shout at him. Instead, he immediately addressed the legal consequences of the action. This was a serious misdemeanour and the penalty was severe. The man was asked if he was able to free a slave, a large financial sacrifice, but he was unable to do so. Scholars mention that a person in such a situation has potentially destroyed himself spiritually so the freeing of a slave acts as a ransom and a means of saving one’s soul. Secondly, the man was asked if he was able to fast two months consecutively. In one narration of the hadith, the man replied that if he had the self-control that fasting requires, he would not have done what he had done. In other words, if I can’t even do this fast, how can I fast for two whole months? Thirdly, he was asked if he could feed sixty needy people to make up for the sixty days he was unable to fast. He of course lacked the means to do this.
After waiting for some time, a donation arrived in the form of a basket of dates. The Prophet ﷺ told the man to give it away in charity. At this point, the man spoke up, saying that there was no one poorer than him and his family in Madinah and therefore there was no one more deserving of this charity than him. Only a few moments ago, this man had come in a state of great distress and now he was hoping to come away with something for his family. This was when the Prophet smiled, a beautiful broad smile which showed his brilliant white teeth.
The scholars mention that it remained the man’s responsibility to feed sixty people whenever he was financially able to do so. He also needed to seek Allah’s forgiveness and make up that day’s fasting. In any case, he came to the Prophet ﷺ in a state of fear and a state of need, and he returned in a far better state with food for his family and a smile our beloved Prophet.
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