that they were sharing the meal with him, and she did exactly that. She quieted the children, distracted them, and put them to bed, so they slept without dinner. When the food was brought, she extinguished the lamp and made the guest think that she and her husband were eating beside him, while in reality they ate nothing. The guest ate to his satisfaction, and the couple spent the night hungry—meaning, without supper—in honor of the Messenger of Allah’s guest ﷺ.

When morning came, the man went to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, and the Prophet told him that Allah had marveled at what the two of them had done that night. Here, Allah’s marveling signifies approval: Allah praised their deed because of the great virtues it embodied.

From this hadith we learn the following lessons:

First: It portrays the condition of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ—his hard life and scant worldly means—despite the fact that he ﷺ is the most honored of all creation in Allah’s sight. Had this world been worth anything to Allah, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ would have been the first and most entitled to enjoy it; yet it is worth nothing.

Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751 AH) said:
“If this world equaled a gnat’s wing,
The Lord would not grant the thankless even a single sip;
But, by Allah, it is meaner in His sight
Than that wing, too weak to fly.”
It is cheaper than a gnat’s wing before Allah; it is nothing.

Second: It shows the fine manners of the Companions toward the Prophet ﷺ, for this Anṣārī