One day a poor man brought a bunch of grapes to the Holy
Prophet Muhammad (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) as a gift.
He was very excited to be able to bring a gift for the
Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam).
He placed the grapes beside the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam) and said, ‘O Prophet of Allah, please accept
this small gift from me’.
He was a poor man who could not afford more. His face
beamed with happiness as he offered his small gift. It was
evident that he loved the Prophet a lot.
The Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) thanked him
graciously. As the man looked at him expectantly, the
Prophet ate one grape. Then he ate another one.
Slowly the Prophet finished the whole bunch of grapes by
himself. He did not offer grapes to anyone present.
The poor man who brought those grapes was very pleased
and left.
The companions of the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam) who were around him were surprised.
Usually the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) shared
whatever he got with them. He would offer them whatever
he was given and they would eat it together.
Usually he would start first, out of respect to the person
who had given him the gift. But he would always offer it to
others.
This time had been different. Without offering it to anyone,
the Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) finished the
bunch of grapes by himself.
One of the companions asked respectfully, "O Prophet of
Allah! How come you ate all the grapes by yourself and
did not offer to any one of us present?”
The holy Prophet (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam) smiled and
said, "I ate all the grapes by myself because the grapes
were sour.
If I would have offered you, you
might have made funny faces and shown your distaste of
the grapes.
That would have hurt the
feelings of that poor man.
I thought to myself that it's better that I eat all of them
cheerfully and please the poor man. I did not want to hurt
the feelings of that poor man."
Moral:
1) Consideration for the feelings of others
2) Graciousness in accepting gifts.
Subhan'Allah.. Such was the character and
manner of our beloved Prophet Hazrat Muhammad
Mustafa (Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam).
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