Ihyaaud Deen An Effort to Revive Deen in Totality
A Sahaabi (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) Buys a Date Tree for a Poor Muslim
Hazrat Abdullah bin Abbaas (radhiyallahu ‘anhuma) reports:
(In the time of Rasulullah [sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam]), a certain man had a date tree growing in the courtyard of his house. A branch of his date tree was hanging above the house of his neighbour who was a very poor man.
When the rich man climbed the tree to pick dates and shook its branches, then some of its dates fell into the poor man’s yard and his children picked them up from the ground.
At this, the rich man would climb down, go into his neighbour’s yard and snatch the dates from the children. If he saw a child chewing a date, he would thrust his fingers into the mouth of the child and take out the date.
The poor man went to Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) and complained about his neighbour. Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) heard his complaint and sent him away.
Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) then called the owner of the date tree and asked him, “Will you give me the date tree hanging above your neighbour’s house in exchange for a date tree which I promise you in Jannah?”
The man said, “O Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam)! Many people wanted to buy this date tree from me, and I also own many other date trees, but I like the dates from this tree very much, and therefore I have not sold it to anyone else.” He thus excused himself from giving away the tree. (Because he was the owner, Rasulullah [sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam] remained silent and did not insist on buying the tree from him against his will).
When the man went away, a Sahaabi who had been listening to this conversation came forward and said, “O Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam)! Do you also promise me a date tree in Jannah if I buy that date tree from him and present it to you?” Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) replied, “Certainly, I promise you the same.”
The Sahaabi got up, went to the owner of the date tree and said to him, “I also own an orchard of date trees. You may sell that date tree of yours to me at any price!”
The man replied, “Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) also promised me a date tree in Jannah (in exchange of this date tree), but then too, I refused to give the tree. The fact is that I like this date tree very much. I might sell it, but nobody would pay the price I want for it.”
The Sahaabi asked, “How much do you want?” The man replied, “I could sell it in exchange for forty date trees.” The Sahaabi said, “This seems too much for a crooked date tree, but are you sure that you would give this tree in exchange for forty date trees?”
The man said, “Certainly, and if you are serious, then take an oath that you will give me forty date trees in exchange of my one date tree.” Hence, the Sahaabi took the oath that he was ready to buy that one crooked date tree for forty date trees, but the man thereafter backed out of the agreement and refused to sell the tree.
The Sahaabi said to him, “You cannot refuse now, because you made me take an oath to buy it.” The man said, “All right, but I will only sell it if all the forty date trees are growing in one and the same place.”
The Sahaabi thought for a while and said, “Yes, I assure you that all the date trees are growing in one and the same place.” The Sahaabi bought the tree and then came to Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) and said, “I have bought the date tree and I present it to you.”
Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) went to the poor man’s house and gave him the date tree as a gift. It was after this incident that Surah Layl was revealed.
(Fazaa’il-e-Sadaqaat [Urdu] pg. 702-703)
