The Prophet ﷺ once hosted a guest. He sent to his wives looking for some food, but not one of them had anything. He therefore said:

“O Allah, I ask You for Your bounty and for Your mercy, for none but You possesses them.”

Soon afterward a whole roasted sheep was presented to him as a gift. He remarked,

“This is part of Allah’s bounty, and we are still awaiting His mercy.”

Abū ʿAlī said: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdān al-Ahwāzī related this to me from him, adding that the sound transmission from Zubayd is mursal.

Muḥammad ibn ʿAbdān also narrated to us; my father narrated to us; al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥārith al-Ahwāzī informed us; ʿUbaydullāh ibn Mūsā narrated to us, from Misʿar, from Zubayd, giving it in mursal form.

Another ḥadith

Al-Bayhaqī said: Abū ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān as-Sulamī informed us; Abū ʿAmr ibn Ḥamdān narrated to us; al-Ḥasan ibn Sufyān informed us; Isḥāq ibn Manṣūr narrated to us; Sulaymān ibn ʿAbd ar-Raḥmān narrated to us; ʿAmr ibn Bishr ibn as-Suraḥ narrated to us; al-Walīd ibn Sulaymān ibn Abī Sāʾib narrated to us; Wāthilah ibn al-Khaṭṭāb narrated to us, from his father, from his grandfather Wāthilah ibn al-Asqaʿ, who said:

Ramadan arrived while we were among the People of the Bench (ahl al-ṣuffah). We fasted, and whenever we broke the fast one of the Companions who had pledged allegiance would come and take one of us home for supper. Then a night passed when no one came; morning came and still no one had appeared, and the next evening passed the same way. We therefore went to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and told him what had happened. He sent to each of his wives asking whether she had anything, and each one of them swore that not a morsel fit for a living being remained in her house.

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ then told us to gather. When we had assembled he supplicated:

“O Allah, I ask You for Your bounty and Your mercy; they are in Your Hand, and no one can grant them but You.”

Hardly had he finished when someone asked permission to enter. A roasted sheep and several loaves of bread were brought in. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ ordered that they be placed before us, and we ate until we were satisfied. He then said:

“We asked Allah for His bounty and His mercy. This is His bounty, and He has stored up His mercy for us with Him.”

The ḥadith of the Foreleg

Imām Aḥmad said: Ismāʿīl narrated to us; Yaḥyā ibn Isḥāq narrated to us; a man from Banū Ghifār related to me, in the gathering of Sālim ibn ʿAbdullāh, saying: “So-and-so told me…”