The Prophet (peace be upon him) was very hospitable. We can identify several elements in his character that helped to make him ready to part with whatever he had in order to please his guests or anyone in need of help. The first of these is that Arabs attached much importance to hospitality, considering it one of the noblest and most essential qualities to have. To them, a stingy person deserved all contempt. Secondly, he was generous and kind by nature. Thirdly, he was free of what makes people try to hold on to what they have, which is the fear that they may not be able to have it when they need it tomorrow. He entertained no such thoughts, because he was convinced that everything we have is from God, and that when we part with our possessions for His sake, He replaces them with better ones. Lastly, as a leader of his community and a Messenger of God, he was aware of his responsibility to take care of his people. Any of these elements would ensure that a person is generous and hospitable. When they combined they made the Prophet’s generosity exemplary even among his people who valued this trait very highly.
Many were the situations where the Prophet’s hospitality was seen in full play. We will, however, cite only a few examples, concentrating on what he offered his guests after his marriage. We all know that one of the highly recommended practices is to invite people to a dinner after one’s wedding. This is known as the waleemah, which is an aspect of the publicity given to marriage. In its general usage, the term means a dinner party, but it has come to be associated specifically with marriage. The Prophet gave such a waleemah after his every marriage. However, Anas ibn Malik reports: “The Prophet gave a waleemah when he married Zaynab bint Jahsh, giving people plenty of bread and meat. He then went to the homes of his other wives, as he used to do in the mornings of his weddings. He would greet everyone of them, pray for her and they would reciprocate his greetings and prayers.” (Related by Ahmad and Al-Bukhari.) A different report by Anas tells us that “the Prophet never gave a waleemah like the one he gave after marrying Zaynab bint Jahsh. He had a sheep slaughtered for the purpose.” (Related by Ahmad, Al-Bukhari and Muslim.)
We know that the Prophet married Zaynab shortly after the Encounter of the Moat, which took place in the fifth year of his immigration to Madinah. Muslims were still going through hard times. It is true that by that time their state had been well established and the rest of the Arabs were now convinced that Muslims were the major force that could not be overcome. Nevertheless, the community was still a poor community, with poverty widespread among them. Islamic values of brotherhood, kindness to others and unrestricted charity ensured that even the poorest in society had enough to eat. In such circumstances, to have a whole sheep for a dinner party meant that it was truly a rich party. Moreover, in Madinah bread was sometimes a rarity. People had more dates than bread. Hence, Anas’ report concentrates on what the dinner included.
The Prophet, however, was most hospitable when he married any of his wives. Anas reports: “The Prophet married one of his wives and consummated his marriage. My mother, Umm Sulaym, cooked some hays, a dish made of dates, dried yoghurt and ghee, with some flour or bread crumbs added to it. She put that in a pan and told me to take it to the Prophet and say: ‘My mother has sent this to you and it is indeed little.’ I took it to the Prophet giving him my mother’s greetings and message. He said: ‘Put it down. Now go and invite this and that, naming a few people, and also whomever you meet. I did that. When they arrived, the Prophet told me to bring the pan. The room and the place in the mosque known as Suffah were full. The Prophet told them to group in circles, ten men in each, and that each one should eat from what is close to him. They ate their fill, with people leaving and new ones coming in, until they were all fed. The Prophet told me then to lift the pan and put it away. I did so. I am not sure whether it was heavier when I put it down to serve the guests or when I put it away.” Anas was asked how many people attended the meal and he said 300. (Related by Al-Bukhari, Muslim and Al-Nassaie.)
On both occasions we note that the food served far more people than could have been expected. On the second occasion, the food was in a pan carried by one young man. His mother, who cooked it, described it as ‘little’, but it was sufficient to feed 300 men. This is just one of many cases when a little amount of food or drink was sufficient for a very large number of people. Every case of these was an act of God that reassured the Prophet’s companions. However we do not take these as miracles to prove God’s message. That proof is in the message itself.
We are not sure who of his wives was the bride on this occasion. However, we are told by Anas that the same type of meal constituted the dinner the Prophet gave when he married Safiyyah. She was the daughter of Huyay ibn Akhtab, a sworn enemy of the Prophet. She was taken prisoner after the Battle of Khaybar, and as such she was a slave. However, “the Prophet set Safiyyah free, married her making her freedom her dowry. He gave a waleemah consisting of hays.” (Related by Al-Bukhari, Muslim and Al-Tirmidhi.)
It is doubtful that the two Hadiths speak of the same occasion, because the first indicates that the waleemah was given in Madinah, with people sitting in the Prophet’s home and in the mosque, while his marriage to Safiyyah was on the way back from the Battle of Khaybar, as clearly indicated in the following Hadith, also reported by Anas: “The Prophet stayed for three nights at a place between Khaybar and Madinah where he consummated his marriage to Safiyyah. I invited the Muslims to his waleemah, which included neither bread nor meat. He ordered mats made of animal skin to be placed, and dishes of dates, dried yoghurt and ghee were placed on them. Thus was his waleemah. People wondered whether Safiyyah would be one of his wives or a slave he possessed. They awaited his action, saying that if he screened her, then she is one of his wives, the mothers of the believers, but if she remained unscreened, she would remain a slave. When he ordered the army to march on, he placed her behind him on his mount and screened her.” (Related by Al-Bukhari, Abu Dawood and Ibn Majah.)
