ALMISKEENAH

 

From the date palm come clusters of low hanging dates. (6:99)

 

It is we who, like a tulip in the desert of Medina,

Bear in our heart the scar of longing for Medina.

Passionate longing for Paradise may disappear

 from the wise man’s head, but

It is not possible that the passionate longing for Medina

should leave him…

The Tuba tree that has lifted its head

on the apex of the Throne

Is only a branch from the garden-adorning palm tree of Medina.

When you eat dates, kiss their kernels, for

The kernels of the dates of Medina are the beads of the angels’ tasbih!

(Jami)

 

Crisp, crunchy, succulent, juicy, delicious are ruby red and golden yellow dates. While the soft melting flesh of the ripening process tantalize the taste buds in a totally different manner. Date season is now at its peak of perfection in the cool palm glades of Madinah. During the past month workers have been laboriously covering the bountiful bunches with a mesh cloth, stitching it in place to prevent the birds from feasting on the crop. The plump ripe bunches having been kissed by the sun are harvested by workers precariously dangling from the tall palms.

 

Farmers with their loaded pick up trucks line the road sides creating make shift markets. The summer sunlight glistens on the multitude of boxes and containers proudly displaying Allah Ta’ala’s ancient fruit. So esteemed is the date palm and its fruit that Allah Ta’ala refers to it numerous times in His Qur’an Majeed and informs us that it is one of the trees in Jannah. SubhanAllah. From the beginning of recorded history, the date palms were known in all the lands between the Nile and the Euphrates.

 

The following events from the time of our Beloved Messenger SallAllahu alaihi wasallam reveal how prominent dates and many related topics were pivotal in their lives, and explain why we feel so attached to the date palms and their various stages of growth as we see them in Madinah. AsShukriLlah for these delicious bounties. May we too be the recipients of all the other qualities we learn from these inspiring accounts. Insha’Allah. Ameen.

The early days of establishing Islam in Madinah were beset with great hardship. Umar RadhiAllahu anhu said that the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam and the Companions RadhiAllahu anhum were often hungry and that there were not even enough rejected dates for him to satisfy his, or his family’s hunger. In later years some one asked Aishah RadhiAllahu anha if they had a lantern. "If we had had oil to burn a lantern we would have drunk it."  The Muslims used to go out on expeditions with hardly any provisions. Abu Musa RadhiAllahu anhu tells of one time when there was only one camel between six. They used to take turns on riding it. The skin began to peel off their feet from the incessant walking, and they used to bind them with rags. This expedition became known as Dhat al-Riqa’, Battle of the Rags.

Food rations used to run so low that people would suck dates rather than eat them. Leaves and locusts would make up the rest of their diet. The Muhajiroun had to contend with a drastic change in diet. Previously they had been used to meat and milk, but in Madinah dates constituted the major portion of their diet. Tabarani has related once incident where one of the Makkan Muslims said to Rasulullah SallAllahu alaihi wasallam, "O Prophet of Allah, these dates have burnt our intestines."

Once Aishah RadhiAllahu anha said to Urwa RadhiAllahu anhu, "O my nephew! We used to see the crescent, and then the crescent and then the crescent in this way we saw three crescents in two months and no fire for cooking used to be made in the houses of Allah’s Apostle SallAllahu alaihi wasallam. I said, "O my aunt! Then what use to sustain you?" ‘Aishah RadhiAllahu anha said, "The two black things: dates and water."

The call for Jihad against the Byzantines to the north at Tabuk was announced at the height of the date harvest in the year AD 630. It was an exceptionally hot summer with an unusual plenteous amount of fruit on the trees, requiring a huge workforce to tend to the harvest. However such was the spirit for joining Rasulullah SallAllahu alaihi wasallam, and their love of Allah Ta’ala in these expeditions that the Sahabah’s strength in leaving the Dunya was shown in stories of how they rode on horseback through the laden trees, the bunches touching their shoulders, without concerning themselves with what normally would be their livelihood. The army prepared for this expedition was 30,000 with 10,000 horses! 

Once Bilal RadhiAllahu anhu was offered work to help the owner of a date plantation to harvest his fruit. At the end of the day he was given many dates as payment for his work. He ate some at the time to satisfy his hunger, wrapping the remainder in a cloth intending to eat them later. On returning from this place he met the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam, who enquired what it was he was carrying. After explaining that he was saving these dates for later, Rasulullah SallAllahu alaihi wasallam asked him what guarantee did he have that Allah Ta’ala would give him life till then. Bilal RadhiAllahu anhu, gave the dates to the next person he met!

 

Jabir bin ‘Abdullah Al-Ansari RadhiAllahu anhu on the day of the battle of Uhud, saw a Sahabah RadhiAllahu anhu eating some dates asking the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam, "Can you tell me where I will be if I should get martyred?" The Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam replied, "In Paradise." The Sahabah RadhiAllahu anhu threw the dates away and fought till he was martyred. He brought his Jannah for a handful of dates!

Jabir bin ‘Abdullah Al-Ansari RadhiAllahu anhu’s father was martyred on the day of Uhud and left six daughters and some debts to be paid. When the time of harvesting the dates came, he went to Allah’s Apostle SallAllahu alaihi wasallam and said, "O Allah’s Apostle! You know that my father was martyred on Uhud’s day and owed much debt, and I wish that the creditors would see you." The Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam said, "Go and collect the various kinds of dates and place them separately in heaps"’ He did accordingly and then called the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam. On seeing him, the creditors started claiming their rights pressingly at that time. When the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam saw how they behaved, he circled the biggest heap three times and sat over it and said, "Call your companions, the creditors." The Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam kept on measuring and giving them, till Allah cleared all my father’s debts. By Allah, it would have pleased me that Allah would clear the debts of my father even though I had not taken a single date to my sisters. But by Allah, all the heaps remained as they were. I looked at the heap where Allah’s Apostle SallAllahu alaihi wasallam was sitting and noticed that it appeared as if not a single date had been taken from it.

When Abu Usaid As-Sa’idi RadhiAllahu anhu got married, he invited the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam and his Companions. His wife prepared the food for them and brought it to them. She soaked some dates in water in a stone pot overnight, and when the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam had finished his food, she provided him with that drink of soaked dates.

Abu Hurairah RadhiAllahu anhu narrated that dates used to be brought to Allah’s Apostle SallAllahu alaihi wasallam immediately after being plucked. Different persons would bring their dates till a big heap collected in front of the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam. Once Al-Hasan and Al-Husain RadhiAllahu anhuma were playing with these dates. One of them took a date and put it in his mouth. Allah’s Apostle SallAllahu alaihi wasallam looked at him and took it out from his mouth and said, "Don’t you know that Muhammad’s offspring do not eat what is given in charity?" 

Anas bin Malik said that the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam forbade the sale of fruits till their benefit is evident; and the sale of date palms till the dates are almost ripe. He was asked what ‘are almost ripe’ meant. He replied, "Got red and yellow. Till there is no danger of blight." Allah’s Apostle SallAllahu alaihi wasallam further said, "If Allah spoiled the fruits, what right would one have to take the money of one’s brother?" Narrated Ibn Shihab, If somebody bought fruits before their benefit is evident and then the fruits were spoiled with blights, the loss should be suffered by the owner not the buyer. Narrated Salim bin ‘Abdullah from Ibn Umar, Allah’s Apostle SallAllahu alaihi wasallam said, "Do not sell or buy fruits before their benefit was evident and do not sell fresh dates for dried dates."

Narrated Anas bin Malik, Allah’s Apostle SallAllahu alaihi wasallam never proceeded for the prayer on the Day of ‘Id-ul-Fitr unless he had eaten some dates. Anas said that the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam used to eat an odd number of dates. 

Jabala narrated "We were in Madinah with some of the Iraqi people, and we were struck with famine and Ibn Az-Zubair used to give us dates. Ibn ‘Umar used to pass by and say, "The Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam forbade us to eat two dates at a time, unless one takes the permission of one’s companions."

Many narrations tell how the date stones would be saved and washed and dried by the Sahabah RadhiAllahu anhum for keeping count of their Dhikr. They are like polished beads after excessive handling, "beads of the Angels tasbih." 

Once the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam distributed dates among his Companions and gave each one seven dates. He gave Abu Hurairah seven dates too, one of which was a Hashafa a type which dries on the tree before fully ripe, making it very dry and hard. Said Abu Hurairah that none of the other dates was more liked by me than that one, for it prolonged my chewing it.

Anas RadhiAllahu anhu narrated that the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam stayed three days at a place between Khaibar and Madinah, where he freed Safiyya bint Huyay and then married her, her Mahr was her freedom and a wedding banquet which included neither meat nor bread. The Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam ordered for the leather dining sufra to be spread, and Haisa* was placed on them. That was the Walima of the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam. The Muslims asked whether Safiyya would be considered as his wife or as a slave girl of what his right hands possessed. Then they said, "If the Prophet screens her from the people, then she is the Prophet’s wife but if he does not screen her, then she is a slave girl." So when the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam proceeded, he made a place for her on the camel behind him and screened her from people.

 

 

Narrated Anas bin Malik, "Whenever the Prophet SallAllahu alaihi wasallam passed by my mother Um-Sulaim he used to visit her and greet her. Anas further said: When the Prophet was a bridegroom during his marriage with Zainab, Um Sulaim said to me, "Let us give a gift to Allah’s Apostle." I said to her, "Do it." So she prepared Haisa, a sweet dish made from dates, butter and dried yoghurt and she sent it with me to him. I took it to him and he said, "Put it down," and ordered me to call some men whom he named, and to invite whomever I would meet. I did what he ordered me to do, and when I returned, I found the house crowded with people and saw the Prophet keeping his hand over the Haisa and saying over it whatever Allah wished him to say. Then he called the men in batches of ten to eat of it, and he said to them, "Mention the Name of Allah, and each man should eat of the dish the nearest to him." When all of them had finished their meals, some of them left and a few remained there talking, over which I felt unhappy. Then the Prophet went out towards the dwelling places of his wives and I too, went out after him and told him that those people had left. Then he returned and entered his dwelling place and let the curtains fall while I was in his dwelling place, and he was reciting the Verses,

Believers, do not enter the Prophet’s apartments for a meal unless you are given permission to do so; do not linger until (a meal) is ready. When you are invited, enter; then when you have taken your meal, depart. Do not stay on and talk for that would offend the Prophet, though he would shrink from asking you to leave. Allah does not shrink from the truth.  When you ask his wives for something, do so from behind a screen; this is purer for your hearts and theirs. It is not right for you to offend Allah’s Messenger. (33-53) Abu Uthman said Anas served the Prophet for ten years.

*Haisa is regularly offered to guests by the Madanians. The following is how one family make it here. They love to tell that this is what the Ummul-Mu’mineen RadhiAllahu anhunna would make for Rasulullah SallAllahu alaihi wasallam.

Melt 100grams of butter in a saucepan, add half a cup of plain flour and stir gently until the mixture becomes reddish. Meanwhile, remove the date stones from approximately a kilo of dates. The mushy ones you can now buy in the vacuum packs. This is a sticky job! Add this date "puree" to the butter and flour mixture and mix thoroughly. Remove from heat and when cooled knead until it is a smooth consistency. Press onto a tray and if liked you can add chopped nuts. Some roll it into small balls. Alhumdulillah, very sweet and delicious!

 

All good is from Allah Ta’ala whereas mistakes are from this humble speck. May Allah Ta’ala Bless all readers, bringing you all closer to Him and His Rasul SallAllahu alaihi wasallam. Ameen.