A story from the Prophet’s life (2) miracles and advantages(Increase in food)

A story from the Prophet’s life (2) miracles and advantages

(Increase in food)

All praises be to Allah, the High, the Great, the Acceptor of repentance, the Most Merciful, the All-Knowing, the Wise. I bear witness that there’s no god but Allah, the first, the Last, the Competent, the Compeller. I bear witness that Muhammad is the slave of Allah and His messenger. He was honoured with “Al-Maqaam Al-Mahmood” (the praiseworthy place) and the frequented fount. Blessing and peace of Allah be upon him, his family and companions.
To proceed:
I advise you and myself of having the fear of Allah, as it’s the advice of Allah for those who came earlier and those who came later, (And hasten to forgiveness from your Lord and a garden [i.e., Paradise] as wide as the heavens and earth, prepared for the righteous.) [Aal-Imran: 133].
Slaves of the Most Merciful, Allah supports His messengers with miracles that prove their truthfulness, increase the faith of their followers and offer irrefutable evidences for their enemies and sceptics. Our prophet had many miracles, the greatest of them being the holy Quran.
Today, we’ll talk about the tangible miracles that were lived by the companions and narrated by the hadith books of Sihaah. We’ll have a look at them, then we’ll mention some of their advantages. It’s been transmitted in Bukhari and Muslim that Anas bin Malik narrated:(Abu Talha said to Um Sulaim, "I have heard the voice of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) which was feeble, and I think that he is hungry. Have you got something (to eat)?" She took out some loaves of barley bread, then took her face-covering sheet and wrapped the bread in part of it, and pushed it under my garment and turned the rest of it around my body and sent me to Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) . I went with that, and found Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) in the mosque with some people. I stood up near them, and Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) asked me, "Have you been sent by Abu Talha?" I said, "Yes." He asked, "With some food (for us)?" I said, "Yes." Then Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said to all those who were with him, "Get up!" He set out (and all the people accompanied him) and I proceeded ahead of them till I came to Abu Talha. Abu Talha then said, "O Um Sulaim! Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) has arrived along with the people, and we do not have food enough to feed them all." She said, "Allah and His Apostle know better." So Abu Talha went out till he met Allah's Messenger (ﷺ). Then Abu Talha and Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) came and entered the house. Allah's Apostle said, "Um Sulaim ! Bring whatever you have." She brought that very bread. The Prophet (ﷺ) ordered that it be crushed into small pieces, and Um Sulaim pressed a skin of butter on it. Then Allah's Apostle said whatever Allah wished him to say (to bless the food) and then added, "Admit ten (men)." So they were admitted, ate their fill and went out. The Prophet (ﷺ) then said, "Admit ten (more)." They were admitted, ate their full, and went out. He then again said, "Admit ten more!" They were admitted, ate their fill, and went out. He admitted ten more, and so all those people ate their fill, and they were eighty men.

Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) placed his hand and mentioned the name of Allah upon that, and then said: Admit ten men. He (Abu Talha) admitted them and they got in. He (the Holy Prophet) said: Eat while mentioning the name of Allah upon it (the meal). They ate until eighty persons had taken the food. Then Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) had his meal and so the members of the household, and still they left some food.")
Slaves of the Most Merciful, a similar story took place with Jabir Bin ‘Abdullah; Bukhari and Muslim transmitted that Jabir b. 'Abdullah reported:(When the ditch was dug, I saw Allah's Messenger (may peace he upon him) feeling very hungry. I came to my wife and said to her: Is there anything with you? I have seen Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) feeling extremely hungry. She brought out a bag of provisions which contained a sa', of barley. We had also with us a lamb. I slaughtered it. She ground the flour. She finished (this work) along with me. I cut it into pieces and put it in the earthen pot and then returned to Allah's Apostle (ﷺ) (for inviting him). She said: Do not humiliate me in the presence of Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and those who are with him. When I came to him I whispered to him saying: Allah's Messenger, we have slaughtered a lamb for you and she has ground a sa' of barley which we had with us. So you come along with a group of people with you. Thereupon Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said loudly: O people of the ditch, Jabir has arranged a feast for you, so (come along). Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said: Do not remove your earthen pot from the hearth and do not bake the bread from the kneaded flour until I come. So I came and Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) came and he was ahead of the people; and I came to my wife and she said (to me): You will be humbled. I said: I did what you had asked me to do. She (his wife) said: I brought out the kneaded flour and Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) put some saliva of his in that and blessed It. He then put saliva in the earthen pot and blessed it and then said. Call another baker who can bake with you. and bring out the soup from it, but do not remove it from the hearth, and the guests were one thousand. (Jabir said): I take an oath by Allah that all of them ate (the food to their fill) until they left it and went away and our earthen pot was brimming over as before, and so was the case with our flour, or as Dahhak (another narrator) said: It (the flour) was in the same condition and loaves had been prepared from that.) This hadith has been transmitted by Bukhari and Muslim and the words of the hadith narrated here are of Muslim.
May Allah bless me and you with the Book and the Sunnah and the signs and wisdom that they contain. Seek the forgiveness of Allah. He’s the All-Forgiving.

The Second sermon
All praises are due to Allah; to proceed:
In both the previous stories, there’re lessons and advantages. One of them is that it’s one of the signs of the prophethood as increase in food took place in an unusual way. So, in the story of Abu Talhah, a limited quantity of food filled the stomach of eighty persons, and in the story of Jabir, the food filled the stomach of thousand persons.
There’s one more sign of the prophethood in the sense that the prophet informed in advance that this food will suffice, as has been reported in some narrations. The third sign lies in what prophet said to Anas, according to some narration: did Anu Talha send you? I said: yes, He said: for food? I said: yes).
Among the things drawn from the hadith: the companions would care a lot about the messenger of Allah.
It’s also drawn from the hadith that it’s recommended to send gift, though little, because howsoever little, it’s better than nothing.
Among the advantages deduced: the host should come out to the guests to receive them.
Among the advantages deduced: suffering falls on the best of the people. So, this is the prophet of Allah and these are his companions who suffered from hunger, etc. According to a hadith narrated in Bukhari: (We were digging (the trench) on the day of (Al-Khandaq (i.e., Trench) and we came across a big solid rock. We went to the Prophet (ﷺ) and said, "Here is a rock appearing across the trench." He said, "I am coming down." Then he got up, and a stone was tied to his belly for we had not eaten anything for three days…. Till the end of the hadith).
Among the things drawn from this hadith: the humbleness of the prophet and his joining his companion in the work himself despite being severely hungry.
Among the advantages: the prophet would care a lot about his companions.
Slaves of the Most Merciful, this is some of the difficulties of life that our messenger and his companions passed through despite their supreme status. It’s our duty that with the abundance and diversity of livelihood and the developed means of comfort we should realise from our hearts the great bounties we’ve been bestowed upon, should praise Allah more and more through our tongues and thank him by doing what pleases Him and avoiding what displeases Him. We should remember that among the things that displease Him are: extravagance and disrespecting bounty.
Then, send out blessings and peace…