each one of us goes through very difficult times at some points within our lives
and it is at that time at the time of difficulty that we recognize the importance of selflessness
when we ourselves are going through a time of difficulty in which we hope someone else will
be selfless in order for them to help us and this idea of selflessness this idea of
sacrifice it's a very very beautiful and it's a very very important idea that is enshrined
within the fabric of islam you see my dear brother my dear sister we have a story within
which a man came to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and he said to the messengers
i'm going through severe difficulty how often is it that you're walking down the street
in some countries this very often and others it's not because of bylaws but if you've been in those
places where that is the case how often is it that you see someone coming to you and telling you hey
i'm going through some difficulty help me so in this case someone came to the messenger sallallahu
alaihi wasallam and he said just that i'm going through severe difficulty or prophet of allah
look how the prophet treated it even though the prophet saws wasn't going through very easy times
when it came to his financial standings as well you see the messenger sallallahu alaihi
wasallam was very generous and he would give up everything related to him for the sake of allah
and so when this man came to the messenger he sent someone to some of his wives
to ask if there's something that they can give to him from their house or from one of his houses and
each one of them they said by allah the one who has sent you with truth we have nothing more than
water o messenger of allah within our house now after the prophet saws checked within within his
own household whether there's something that he can take from there and give to this beggar this
person who's going through financial distress within his life then the prophet salallahu he
asked the people over there that were around him and he said who is it that's going to help this
person tonight and who is it that's going to take this person as a host tonight as a guest tonight
one of the people from the ansar he got up and he said it will be me o messenger of allah
now this ansari individual this person from the natives of medina this person
who was among the people who embraced the prophet and the migrant sahaba as well
he went home and in his house there was nothing there when he asked his wife except for some
food that they had for the children adults they can still bear some hunger but children
they'll start to cry they'll start to they'll start to tear up and they will start to make
ruckus and noise so this man he said to his wife do something to distract the children
and when the guest comes over then take the lantern and put it out
and make it seem like we're eating with him whilst we only present the food before this particular
individual this is a form of selflessness this is a form of sacrifice which is of the highest order
and allah subhanahu wa he said about this form of sacrifice within the quran he said
describing the indigenous medina and sahabah themselves who embraced the migrants from mecca
he said that they end up sacrificing they end up preferring them over their cell over themselves
even if they went even if they happened to be going through financial distress and difficulty
within their own lives example is the example in hand right now this companion he brought the
guest over who was hungry who was not able who didn't have money who was poor who was destitute
and he sat him down and he gave him the food and he asked his wife to turn off the light so that
he thinks that he's eating and everyone else is also eating but the only person in reality that
was eating was the guest now the morning time when they met the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
had given through divine inspiration the message to the prophet saws that this person had done
whatever i have described before that this person was so generous to his guest that he
took his own food and gave it to the guest for the sake of allah so the prophet says he said
with the type of thing that you've done to your guest last night so even allah found this action
of this individual from the ansari companion so beautiful that he became happy from this action so
if you want to gain the happiness of allah subhana wa my dear brother my dear sister if you want to
gain the pleasure of allah my dear brother my dear sister then one of the ways to do that is
to sacrifice for the sake of allah subhanahu wa ta'ala the little that you have ensure that you
give to others before you take for yourself but of course do not be negligent about your
responsibilities as well i ask allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to grant us to practice to convey
mohammed