Prophet Muhammed’s ﷺ Sacrifice, Care & Respect for the Poor
Reference: Al Bidayah wan-Nihayah by Imam Ibn Kathir ؒ, 6:41, 42; Beirut print
This message tells you how Prophet Muhammad ﷺ took care of the poor, and how much he was concerned for their well being.
Once, Prophet Muhammed ﷺ visited a cloth merchant and purchased a shirt for 4 dirhams. When he started using it and ventured out of his sacred house, an Ansari man suddenly came in front of the beloved ﷺ and said: “Ya RasoolAllah ﷺ! Please clothe me (the Ansari man was probably not wearing a shirt). The merciful prophet ﷺ gave away his shirt to the person.
Subsequently, Prophet Muhammed ﷺ went to the cloth merchant once again and bought another shirt for himself for 4 dirhams, yet he had 2 more dirhams left with himself. Eventually, while returning from the market, the Holy Messenger ﷺ saw a slave girl crying.
The beloved Prophet ﷺ enquired for the reason, to which the girl said that her owners had given her 2 dirhams to purchase flour, which she lost. Prophet Muhammed ﷺ gave away the remaining 2 dirhams to the slave girl, asked her to purchase flour from them, and moved on for his other activities. While returning, he ﷺ saw that the same slave girl crying again. When asked by the merciful Prophet ﷺ, the enslaved girl reasoned that she fears of getting beaten by her owners for being late to return home.
Keeping the servant girl’s safety in mind, Prophet Muhammed ﷺ accompanied her till her house so that her master doesn’t strike her. When he ﷺ reached her house he said to the owners “Assalamualaikum”, to which either there was no response from the owners or they recognized the prophet’s ﷺ voice but said salam very quietly. This happened for the second time too. However, when Messenger Muhammed ﷺ was about to return after saying salam for the third time, the owner of the slave girl came out happily and replied to the salam.
The King of Kings ﷺ asked the owner of the slave girl if he had listened to his salam, to which the owner said he did. However, he reasoned that he wanted more salams to be conveyed to him and his family members by the prophet ﷺ for which they remained almost quiet, as salam is a prayer, and whose prayer would be more accepted than Prophet Muhammed’s ﷺ?
The owner then asked as to how come the Master of the universe ﷺ had come, to which Prophet Muhammed ﷺ said that he had accompanied his slave girl to save her from being beaten for returning late from the market.
The owner said: “O Messenger of Allah ﷺ! Far goes being beaten, this slave girl is now free forever, because you’ve come to save her.” Prophet Muhammed ﷺ gave the owner and his family the glad tidings of blessings and place in haven.
