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Generosity of Hadrat Fatimah Zahra (A.S.)
Jabir bin ‘Abdullah al-Ansari, a prominent companion of the Holy Prophet (saww) has reported that:
One day, we were with the Holy Prophet (saww) after ‘Asr (after noon) prayer when an old immigrant man came by who was wearing worn out clothes and was barely able to walk because of his old-age and weakness. The Holy Prophet (saww) inquired to him about his welfare and the old man said, “O Prophet of Allah! I am starving, so feed me; I am naked, so cloth me; and I am poor, so help me!”
The Holy Prophet (saww) said, “Surely I have nothing to give you, yet, he, who guides to goodness is equal to one who performs it. So go to the house of one (she) who loves Allah and His messenger, and Allah and His messenger love her. The one who prefers Allah over herself; I mean Fatimah (a.s.)”.
Fatimah (a.s.)’s house was near to that of the Holy Prophet (saww). He (saww) asked Bilal to lead the old man to her house. As soon as they reached her house, the old man cried out loudly, “Peace be upon you O people of the house, where the angles frequent their visits; where Roohul-Ameen (Jibrael) descends bringing what the Lord of the worlds reveals”. Fatimah (a.s.) responded to his greetings and asked who he was, to which, the old man replied, “I am an old Arab man. I have emigrated to your father from a distant land. O Daughter of Muhammad! I am hungry and in need of clothing – so console me and may Allah bless you”.
This incident occurred at a time when the Holy Prophet (saww), Imam Ali (a.s.) and Sayyida Fatimah (a.s.) had not eaten anything for three days. Fatimah (a.s.) gave the old man a ram skin which was used as bed by her two children, al-Hasan (a.s.) and al-Husayn (a.s.). However, the old man said, “O Daughter of Muhammad! I complain to you of hunger and you give me a ram’s skin? How can I eat this?” Fatimah (a.s.) took out her necklace which Fatimah binti Hamza bin ‘Abdulmuttalib had given to her, handed it over to the old man saying, “Sell this and Allah will grant you with a solution to your problem”. The old man took the necklace, brought and showed it to the Holy Prophet (saww). The Holy Prophet (saww) said, “Indeed Allah will grant you a solution, for Fatimah, the Mistress of all the women has given to you this necklace”.
‘Ammar bin Yassir, who was present, said, “O Messenger of Allah! Do you allow me to buy this necklace?” The Holy Prophet (saww) said, “Buy it ‘Ammar, surely if all men and women participate in its purchase, Allah will protect them from Hellfire”. ‘Ammar asked the old man for its price and he replied, “A meal of bread and meat, a Yemeni shirt to cover myself and a dinar to return to my family”. ‘Ammar gave him 20 dinar and 200 dirham, a Yemeni shirt, wheat bread and meat, and a horse to take him to his home. The Holy Prophet (saww) asked the old man if he was satisfied with all that and he replied in affirmation. “So reward Fatimah for her kindness”, said the Holy Prophet (saww). The old man prayed, “O Allah! Give Fatimah that which no eye has seen and no ear has heard”.
‘Ammar perfumed the necklace with musk and sent it to the Holy Prophet (saww) with a slave whom he had purchased with the booty he received from Khyber, saying, “Give this necklace to the Messenger of Allah and tell him that I gift you to him too”. When the slave delivered the necklace and the message, the Holy Prophet (saww) said to him, “Take this necklace to Fatimah and I gift you to her”. When the slave came to Fatimah (a.s.), she took her necklace back and set the slave free. When the slave was set free, he laughed loudly. Fatimah (a.s.) asked for the purpose of laughing and he said, “I laughed when I thought of the abundance of goodness in this necklace. It fed a hungry man; it clothed a naked man; satisfied a poor man; freed a slave; and came back to its original owner”.] (Chauda Sitaare)
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