or when I removed it.”(95)

S e c o n d E x a m p l e : Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, the Prophet’s host, relates that when the Noble Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and peace) honoured his house, he had prepared a meal for two, which would suffice the Prophet and Abu Bakr. But the Prophet told him: “Invite thirty men from among the distinguished Ansar!”(96) Abu Ayyub said: “Thirty men came and ate. He then said: ‘Invite sixty men,’ which I did, and they also came and ate. The Prophet said again: ‘Invite seventy more.’ I invited them; they came, and when they finished eating, there was still food left in the bowls. All who came embraced Islam and took the oath of allegiance after witnessing this miracle. One hundred and eighty men ate the food of two men.”(97)

T h i r d E x a m p l e : It is reported through many chains of transmission from ‘Umar b. al-Khattab, Abu Hurayra, Salama b. Akwa‘, Abu ‘Amrat al-Ansari and others that on one expedition, the army went hungry. They referred themselves to the Noble Prophet (Upon whom be blessings and peace), and he told them:

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(95) Bukhari, Nikah, 64; Muslim, Nikah 94, 95; Tirmidhi, xxxiii, 21; Nasa’i, Nikah 84; Abu Da’ud, Adab 95; Musnad iii, 29; v, 462; Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa: i, 294.
(96) Ansar-Helpers: those of the Madinan Companions who had the migrants from Makkah to stay in their houses. (Tr.)
(97) Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa: i, 292; al-Haythami, al-Majma’ al-Zawa’id vii, 303; al-Khafaji, Sharh al-Shifa: iii, 33; ‘Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa: i, 604.