Ihyaaud Deen An Effort to Revive Deen in Totality
Hazrat Hasan, Hazrat Husain and Hazrat Abdullah bin Ja’far (radhiyallahu ‘anhum) Repay a Poor Bedouin Woman for Her Goat
Abul Hasan Madaa’ini (rahimahullah) reports the following incident. He says:
Once, Hazrat Hasan (radhiyallahu ‘anhu), Hazrat Husain (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) and Hazrat Abdullah bin Ja’far (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) were going for haj. During the journey, the camels carrying their luggage got lost and they continued their journey hungry and thirsty, without any food or drink.
Eventually, they came across a tent in which there sat an old woman. They asked her if she had anything (water, milk, buttermilk, etc.) to drink, to which she replied in the affirmative. Hence, they got down from their camels.
The old woman had only one she-goat which was thin and weak. Gesturing towards it, she told them to milk it and share the milk among themselves. They did so and drank the milk, dividing it among themselves.
They then asked the old woman if she had anything to eat. She said, “I only have this she-goat. If one of you slaughters it, I shall cook its meat for you.” They slaughtered the goat and the old woman cooked and served its meat to them. They ate and drank to their fill, and in the evening, when they were about to continue their journey, they said to her, “We are Haashimis (from the Banu Haashim clan) and we are going for haj. If we get back to Madinah Munawwarah, safe and sound after haj, then please come and visit us there, and we shall repay you for your generosity.” After saying this, they left.
Some while later in the evening, when the old woman’s husband returned home from the forest, she told him about the guests from the Banu Haashim. He was angry and scolded her saying, “You slaughtered your goat for strangers! You do not know who they were and where they came from. How do we even know that they were Haashimis?” He then remained silent after scolding her.
After some time, the old man and his wife became very poor and travelled to Madinah Munawwarah to look for work to earn some money. During the day, they used to collect dried camel-dung (which was used as fuel) which they sold to earn a living.
One day, the old woman was gathering camel-dung as usual when she passed in front of the house of Hazrat Hasan (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) who saw her and recognized her. He sent his servant to call her to his house. When she came, he asked her, “Do you recognize me?” When she said that she did not recognize him, he replied, “I was your guest who drank the milk of your goat and then slaughtered it to eat its meat.”
The old woman still did not recognize him, and said in amazement, “By Allah! Are you really that person?” Hazrat Hasan (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) again told her that he was the same guest. He then instructed his servants to buy a thousand goats for her, which they immediately bought and gifted to the old lady, together with a thousand gold coins in cash.
He then sent her with his servant, to his younger brother, Hazrat Husain (radhiyallahu ‘anhu), who asked her how much his elder brother had given her. When she informed him that his brother, Hazrat Hasan (radhiyallahu ‘anhu), had given her a thousand goats and a thousand dinaars (gold pieces) in cash, then he also gave the same amount of goats and gold.
Hazrat Husain (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) then sent her to Hazrat Abdullah bin Ja’far (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) who, on coming to know what the two brothers had gifted to her, gave her two thousand goats and two thousand dinaars in cash. He then said, “If you had come to me before going to Hazrat Hasan (radhiyallahu ‘anhu), I would have given you much more in reward.”
The old lady went to her husband with four thousand goats and four thousand dinaars and said to him, “Here is something in return for our thin and weak goat.”
(Fazaa’ile-e-Sadaqaat [English] pg. 637-638, [Urdu] pg. 700-701)
