• Author: Islamweb

‘Abbad ibn Shurahbil (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated: I suffered from a year of famine, and I came upon a garden of somebody in Madinah, from which I picked up some ears of corn which I rubbed, ate some of its content, and put the rest in my garment. Then, the owner of the garden came and beat me, and took my garment. I came to the Messenger of Allah () [and told him what had happened]. He said to him (the owner of the garden): “You neither instructed him when he was ignorant, nor did you give him food when he was hungry (or given to starvation).” The Messenger of Allah () ordered the man to give me back my garment and gave me a Wasq [a measurement equal to sixty Sa’as) or half a Wasq of food.” (Narrated by Ashab As-Sunan “the four Sunan compilers” except At-Tirmidhi).

The situation in detail

Life has its ups and downs. People are happy with its ups when its conditions are good, but they are grieved by its downs when its conditions change to severe poverty. A believer is always grateful to Allah for the ups and is patient for the downs.

This was typical of the life of one of the Prophet’s () Companions. ‘Abbad ibn Shurahbil (may Allah be pleased with him) led an average life; not too rich, not too poor. He had a livelihood and enjoyed his humble abode. He remained in this state until the times of distress came to strip him of his favors; he was struck by the lack of resources and was exhausted by hunger. He suffered from worry and want and fell prey to starvation.

Day after day, the provisions that were in his house were running out until they were completely used up. Here, ‘Abbad ibn Shurahbil decided to go out to look for a morsel to satisfy his hunger and, therefore, protect him from perishing.

While he was on his way in Madinah, he saw a garden with its leafy trees casting their nice shades. In his eyes, it looked like a paradise with abundance in lush and fresh multitudes of all kinds of grains that delight the soul and please the eyes. Spontaneously, ‘Abbad (may Allah be pleased with him) rushed towards the ears of corn, took a handful from them, rubbed them with his hands, then pushed them into his mouth. It must have been extreme hunger that drove him to eat these grains without cooking or baking.

When his hunger was appeased, he remembered the past few days that he had spent with an empty stomach. He dreamt, just a dream, to save for himself something to eat, so that he may not starve again. Therefore, he decided to pick some ears of corn for his use in the coming days. ‘Abbad (may Allah be pleased with him) came out of the garden and filled a garment he had with a lot of corn. With every step he took, an image of a cooking fire, and a table spread with food and drink appeared to him. While ‘Abbad was in his deep reflections, the owner of the garden saw him carrying the garment, indifferent to what he had done. So he became furious because of that, began to scold him for his daring deed, beat him harshly, took his garment from him, and expelled him ruthlessly.

‘Abbad (may Allah be pleased with him) was heart-broken and felt oppressed and deprived. Therefore, he went to the Prophet () to complain to him about what the man had done to him and tell him the whole story.

The Prophet () was very concerned about the matter of ‘Abbad, and sent for the owner of the garden to admonish him for his excessive severity and for taking the garment unrightfully. He reprimanded him and said: “You neither instructed him when he was ignorant, nor did you give him food when he was hungry (or given to starvation)” and ordered him to give ‘Abbad his garment back.

On the other hand, the Prophet () commanded his Companions to bring to ‘Abbad (may Allah be pleased with him) the equivalent of thirty or sixty Sa’as of barley. On hearing that, ‘Abbad’s face illuminated with joy and he saw in that prophetic giving a happy ending that he had never dreamed of.

Reflections on the situation

Some people might think that every wrong behavior is the result of lack of upbringing or the presence of criminal motives and perverted thoughts. However, as a matter of fact, this is a shallow view that only focuses on actions but does not transcend to their causes and motives. It is true that there are religiously and morally reprehensible acts the doer of which has no excuse, nor should they be tolerated as something prompted by the human self that is inclined to evil. On the other hand, however, there are those who commit a sin unknowingly, and there are others who resort to unlawful means after all avenues of lawful ones have been locked off.

The noble prophetic handling of this issue conveys to us an important message: it is necessary to distinguish between an ailment and the symptoms of that ailment. We must correct the error, much as we should be concerned with the motives and reasons that led to falling into it.

If we look at the text of the Hadith we find that what prompted ‘Abbad ibn Shurahbil (may Allah be pleased with him) to do what he did was extreme hunger on the one hand, and his ignorance that it was a misdeed on the other.

As for the hunger issue, the Prophet () blamed the owner of the garden when he neglected this human perspective. Then, he solved the problem radically by giving ‘Abbad enough food to satisfy his need and keep him from the humiliation of begging.

As for the ignorance issue, taking food from the gardens of others is permissible in principle, but to a certain extent, which was made clear by the Prophet () who said: “If anyone of you passes by a garden, he may eat therefrom, but he must not carry anything away in his garment.” (Narrated by Ibn Majah)

However, ‘Abbad (may Allah be pleased with him) did not know that ruling, otherwise he would not have gone to the Messenger of Allah () to complain to him.

Imam Al-Khattabi says: “It is understood from this Hadith that he () excused ‘Abbad’s ignorance of the ruling on taking food (in his garment) and blamed the owner of the garden for not feeding him when the latter was hungry.”

In summary: the root cause of some of those who fall into forbidden acts is the feeling of want. The Prophet’s lesson was to direct consideration to the necessity of fulfilling the legitimate needs of the deprived persons so that need may not force them into deviation as prevention is better than cure.