The Spirit of Sacrifice

The Spirit of Sacrifice

And his wife said,

"By the One who sent you with the truth — I have nothing in my house except for water." The pantry is empty. The fridge is empty. There is nothing there except for water. And so the Prophet ﷺ goes to his next house. And his wife says, "By the One who sent you with the truth, I have nothing except for water." The Prophet ﷺ goes to his next house. And every single wife of the Prophet ﷺ is saying the same thing: "The only thing that I have — I don't have a few dates that I can give this man. We don't have anything except for water."

And so the Prophet ﷺ then goes back to the masjid after having gone to each one of his houses. And he said:

"Who is going to host this person?"

Abu Talha al-Ansari says, "I will, O Messenger of Allah. I will, O Messenger of Allah." And so Abu Talha then goes. And Abu Talha was one of the wealthier people in Medina. He goes back to his house and he tells his wife:

"Honor the guest of Rasulullah ﷺ."

Even though the duty of hosting has transferred from the Prophet ﷺ to Abu Talha, you see the beautiful adab and love that the sahabah رضي الله عنهم had and the reverence that they had for the Prophet ﷺ. Even if I'm the one who's hosting — honor the guest of Rasulullah ﷺ.

And so Abu Talha's wife says, "I have no food except for the food for my children. I just have supper for the kids. That's all I got. I don't even have food for us. I just have dinner for the kids." And so Abu Talha says to her, "Occupy the kids. And then when they get sleepy, put them to sleep." Or:

"If they want food, then coax them until they go to sleep."

"And turn off the lights."

So that the guest, when he comes, he doesn't feel like we are giving him all that we have. He doesn't see what we have. And we'll sit with him and we will pretend to eat, so that the guest doesn't feel like he's obliging them or being a burden on them. And so they do. And the next day, he goes to Rasulullah ﷺ, and the Prophet ﷺ says, "Allah was amazed at what you did yesterday with your guest."

This action of Abu Talha al-Ansari is something that manifested the spirit of sacrifice that the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم had. And this is one example of many examples of the sacrifice that the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم carried — the love that they had for each other, the brotherhood that they had for each other.

Of the lessons from this hadith is their lack of showing favor to their guest. "I'm going to turn off the light so that my guest doesn't feel like I'm a bother to the host. I'm not showing that this guest is a burden to me, that I'm going out of my way, that I'm saying 'look at what I'm doing for you, O guest, look at all of the things that I've done for you.'" Rather, they are actually trying to show the guest that they are incredibly light in their presence.

The Brotherhood of the Muhajireen and the Ansar

Also among the beautiful manifestations that the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم had of sacrifice for each other — the examples are many — but one of them, of course, is one that we've all heard: Abdurrahman ibn Awf رضي الله عنه, when he arrives in Medina for the first time. And Rasulullah ﷺ had created the spirit of brotherhood between the Muhajireen and the Ansar. And so Sa'd ibn al-Rabi' — who is the brother of Abdurrahman ibn Awf, but he's from Medina — is now welcoming this brother of his who is coming from Mecca.

And you know the example: Sa'd ibn al-Rabi' said, "This is my wealth — you can have half of it. And these are my two wives — whichever one you want, that is the one I will divorce, and you can marry her later." An incredible example of sacrifice. Incredible. Even for us it is difficult to even imagine that level of sacrifice.

And yet — on the flip side of sacrifice — because when we talk about sacrifice, something important as well: in any relationship, for equilibrium to exist, there has to be balance. And for balance to exist, there has to be both sides doing what they're supposed to do. And so on one side you have Sa'd ibn al-Rabi' showcasing this sacrifice that Allah loves and praises the Ansar for:

Allah praises the Ansar for welcoming the Muhajireen into the city and for sacrificing even at their own expense when they have need for things. But on the other hand, you have the greatness of the Muhajireen as well. And so Abdurrahman ibn Awf doesn't sit down and say, "Well, thank you — I'll just take half of your wealth. I'll just accept your welfare." Abdurrahman ibn Awf shows dignity that makes a person who sacrifices not feel like they've been taken advantage of.

And so Abdurrahman ibn Awf says to him:

"May Allah bless your wealth and your family."

And if Sa'd ibn al-Rabi' is going to become famous for a thousand years because of his example of sacrifice, then Abdurrahman ibn Awf is going to meet that example of sacrifice with an example of dignity. And he said:

"Just show me where the marketplace is."

"I'm going to build myself up. I'll stand on my own two feet. Just show me where the marketplace is. I don't need a handout. Just show me where the marketplace is and I'll be fine." And it wasn't long before Abdurrahman ibn Awf got married in Medina on his own.

But that is when that equilibrium happens — when those who sacrifice, sacrifice; but at the same time, those who are assisted by sacrifice don't take advantage of the generosity of those around them.

The Prophet's ﷺ Teaching on Sacrifice and Giving

And so the Prophet ﷺ teaches us of the greatness of sacrifice. There was a companion who was riding on a mount and he was looking to the right and to the left — he was in need, even though he was riding on a mount. And so the Prophet ﷺ said:

"Whoever has an extra mount, then let them give it to the one who doesn't have a mount."

The Prophet ﷺ is so amazing in his emotional intelligence. Because there is a man who inspired his statement — who has a mount, but he's in need. And so the Prophet ﷺ gives an example of something that will not make him feel embarrassed. Rasulullah ﷺ uses the example of a mount even though he has a mount, so then people are looking — "Who is he talking about? Well, this guy has a mount, so he couldn't be it." And so the Prophet ﷺ says, "Whoever has a mount, then let them give to those who don't have a mount."

And Abu Sa'id al-Khudri says that Rasulullah ﷺ continued to mention:

(Sahih Muslim)

"And whoever has extra provisions, let him give it to those who don't have." And so Abu Sa'id al-Khudri said: he kept mentioning different categories of wealth until we thought that a person does not have any right to a surplus in anything. If I have excess food, then I should give it to those who don't have food. If I have excess wealth, then I should spend it on those who don't have. The Prophet ﷺ mentioned different categories of wealth — the idea of giving, when I have more than enough for myself, to those who have less.

And something that is mentioned by psychologists about giving — beyond the religious literature about giving — is that the freeing thing about giving is that you are telling yourself that you have enough. The first person to benefit from sadaqah is you. We know that, Islamically. But even psychologically, when you give, you are telling yourself, "I'm okay, I have enough." Especially as we enter into the season that we're entering — the holiday season, the consumer culture, Black Friday around the corner — by increasing your sadaqah, even as you're increasing your purchases, you are telling yourself, "I have enough."

The Prophet ﷺ says, in the hadith reported by Bukhari and Muslim:

"The food of two is enough for three, and the food of three is enough for four." (Sahih al-Bukhari; Sahih Muslim)

And the Prophet ﷺ says in the hadith of Jabir, which is reported by Muslim:

"The food of one is enough for two, the food of two is enough for four, and the food of four is enough for eight." (Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2059)

Now these are hadith that we've heard before. But again, the question then becomes — do I practice this at all? It's almost like our culture is the complete opposite. We're two people and we order food for four people. And the Prophet ﷺ is saying, no, it's the opposite — the food of two people is enough for four people. A person shares, a person gives. And of course the health benefits of this are many. A person eats less. One of the major causes of disease for us is obesity — the problems that come with eating too much. And these are problems of extravagance and surplus. And so increasing in our sacrifice, increasing in benefiting each other, always thinking of the other person.

The Prophet ﷺ says in the hadith reported by Abu Musa al-Ash'ari: that the Ash'ariyin — and Abu Musa was from that tribe, so he is the one narrating this hadith, and the Prophet ﷺ is praising this tribe from Yemen — he says that if they have want and need in battle, or their children have less in Medina, if they are running out of supplies, running out of resources, running out of food, what do they do? These concepts are very nice to hear about, but they become very difficult to practice. But when they would find want and need, what they would do was gather a cloak and spread it, and everybody would come and put whatever they had of food onto the cloak. Everybody would put it together. And then they would distribute it amongst each other — بِالسَّوِيَّةِ — equally, altogether.

And so the Prophet ﷺ said:

"They are from me and I am from them." (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 2486; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2500)

When there is a lack, that is when our shuh — our greed — becomes very, very powerful. I want you to think back to the beginning of COVID and everything that people stored. We were storing toilet paper and all sorts of supplies. That's because of shuh, that's because of greed. We're not talking about that. We're not even aiming for that. That is a very high level for a person:

"They sacrifice for themselves even when they have need." That is very high. We are just encouraging and reminding ourselves to give from the surplus that we have. Not to give from the need that we have, but to constantly give from the surplus that we have. The Prophet ﷺ of course would give in surplus and would give in need.

The Cloak of the Prophet ﷺ

The hadith of Sahl ibn Sa'd رضي الله عنه: he says that a woman came to the Prophet ﷺ and she had made a burda — a garment, a cloak — for the Prophet ﷺ, and he was in need of it. He was in need of a cloak. And so this woman came to Rasulullah ﷺ and she said, "I made this with my own two hands for you to wear, Ya Rasulullah." And so the Prophet ﷺ accepted it from her and then wore it.

On the first day he walked out with it — I want you to think about when you buy a new garment, you buy a new jacket, you buy new shoes, you go out on that first day and everyone is saying, "MashaAllah, what a nice jacket, what nice shoes" — especially if it's something that you needed. We're not even talking about fashion; we're talking about function. And on the first outing, there is a man amongst everybody who says, "Give it to me, Ya Rasulullah. How beautiful is it? Give it to me, Ya Rasulullah." So the Prophet ﷺ says, "Na'am." The Prophet ﷺ goes and he sits down, takes it off, folds it, and gives it to the man.

The man is happy. Rasulullah ﷺ leaves. The Sahaba are furious. They say to him:

"You did not do well."

"You knew the Prophet ﷺ needed it and you knew he doesn't say no. You have to be careful with people who don't say no. If someone doesn't have a mechanism in their generosity to say no, then you're the one who's supposed to exercise caution." And there is a line of poetry about a generous man:

"He has gotten so used to extending his hand that if he tries to clench it, his fingers won't even respond — he doesn't even have the muscle memory. When you come to him he is beaming, as if it is you who is giving him what he is being asked. And if the only thing that he had in his palm was his own soul, he would give it — so let the one who is asking him fear Allah."

In any case, they say to him, "Rasulullah ﷺ was in need of it and you knew that he doesn't say no." And so he said, "By Allah, I didn't take it because I want to wear it. I'm not even taking it because I want to wear it. I want this cloak so that it can be my shroud when I die." And so Sahl ibn Sa'd says that it was indeed his shroud.

The Prophet ﷺ was the least concerned with the dunya. And the Prophet ﷺ taught the Sahaba a spirit of sacrifice. Allah says:

"You will not attain righteousness until you give from what you love." Something beautiful that I remember — one brother once told me years ago — that of the habits that he would do every Ramadan with his kids is that every year they sit down and they all pick one of their favorite items of clothing, and that would be the thing that they give away. They pick what they love, and they learn to give it away.

We ask Allah to give us from His generosity, to make us of those who are generous, and to make us of the people of ithar.

The Levels of Sacrifice in Islamic Jurisprudence

What I'd like to conclude with is: is sacrifice something that is beloved to Allah? Absolutely. The ulama mention there are some levels of sacrifice that are forbidden, some levels that are makrooh, some levels that are mubah, and some levels or manifestations of sacrifice that are recommended.

The Forbidden (Haram)

The forbidden is when a person sacrifices that which they are obligated to do religiously. So I have water and I need to make wudu. And I say to the person next to me, "No, you have the water, sir. I don't need it. I'll just make tayammum." No — you have water, so because you have water you are obligated to make wudu. He doesn't have water, so he's allowed to make tayammum. But I don't pass over what I have access to. So the scholars mention that as forbidden sacrifice.

The Disliked (Makrooh)

Then they mention sacrifice that is makrooh — disliked. And that is when a person offers up what is recommended religiously. For example, I'm in the first row, and I decide to say to the person behind me, "No, no, you come — you come to the front. I'll just go to the second row." So now you've opted out of what is more rewarded with Allah. And so the scholars say you don't do that. If I am put in a position where I am to be rewarded more by Allah — like being in the first row — then I don't opt out of that for anybody, unless it is a scenario where you're going to cause harm. So I'm in the first row and behind me is my dad, and my dad is going to be upset that I didn't let him come to the first row, or someone where it's going to cause feelings to be harmed or hurt. Then they say there is no problem with that. So that's the second level — makrooh, it's disliked.

The Permissible (Mubah) and the Recommended

Then you have a third with difference of opinion — some scholars consider it makrooh and some don't. Then the third is where it is mubah. And that's your general — "you go ahead of me in line" — things with regards to the dunya, basically. As you notice, the makrooh and the haram are both with regards to the deen. As for sacrificing for the dunya, it generally falls under the category of mubah — it's permissible — or it is recommended if a person is doing it for a virtuous reason, like the examples that we've seen with regards to the Sahaba رضي الله عنهم.

So we ask Allah to make us a people who love to seek Allah's pleasure. We ask Allah to make us of those for whom the dunya is insignificant in their eyes in seeking the hereafter. And we ask Allah to make the best of our deeds our last deeds, and the best of our moments the day that we meet Him.