A Glimpse into the Life of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) – Helping the Poor in Finding Matrimonial Partners 

© Shutterstock

The Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) was ever watchful of the needs of the people and helped them. He used to take personal interest in the arrangements of the marriages. Hazrat Rabi‘ah Aslami (ra) says, ‘I used to serve the Holy Prophet (sa). One day, he asked me as to why I did not get married. I replied, “By God, I do not intend to marry because I do not have the means to support a wife, and also, I do not wish that any other activity should hinder me from serving you.” The Holy Prophet (sa) did not comment on this. I continued to serve him. 

Sometime later, he asked me the same question about marrying. I replied with the same answer but thought in my heart that the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) is sagacious in the matters of the world and the world hereafter. If he asks me again, I would tell him that I am ready to do whatever he commands. Next time, when the Holy Prophet (sa) motivated me to marry, I told him that I was ready to do whatever he said. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) said, “Go to this tribe of Ansar and tell them I have sent you and to give the hand of their daughter to you in marriage.” I did as he commanded. The people of that tribe said, “Welcome to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) and his representative. We take an oath in the name of Allah that the Holy Prophet Muhammad’s (sa) representative will not return without fulfilling his requirement.” They married that girl to me and treated me with love. They did not even ask me to prove that I had genuinely been sent by the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa). 

When I returned to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa), I was somewhat sad. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) asked the reason of my sadness, and I replied, “O Messenger of God, I went to a respectable tribe, they arranged my marriage, honoured me, treated me with love and did not even ask for the proof. As far as I am concerned, I am so poor that I cannot afford to pay mehr [dowry] to my wife. The Holy Prophet (sa) told Buraidah Aslami (ra) to collect gold equal to a stone of a fruit. He complied and the Holy Prophet (sa) told me to go and pay the mehr. The guardians of the girl accepted it gracefully. 

Again I returned to the Holy Prophet (sa) with a sad heart. When the Holy Prophet (sa) enquired, I told him that I have never seen such honourable people. The gold I had offered as mehr, they accepted it gladly and treated me with kindness. Now I do not have the money for walimah [wedding reception]. The Holy Prophet (sa) again told Buraidah to arrange for a goat. He acquired a fat healthy ram for me. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) told me to go to Hazrat A’ishah (ra) and tell her to give you a sack of grain. I conveyed the Holy Prophet’s (sa) message, and Hazrat A’ishah (ra) told me that apart from this sack of oats, which were about thirty kilos in weight, there was no other food in the house. She told me to take away the sack. I brought it to the Holy Prophet (sa) and also informed him of what Hazrat A’ishah (ra) had said. The Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) told me to take the ram and the sack of grain to my in-laws and tell them to prepare it for tomorrow. 

I took these things to my in-laws. There were other people of the Aslami tribe with me, and I asked them to prepare the food. They told us to slaughter the ram, and they prepared the bread. We cooked the meat and they prepared the bread and I was able to hold the walimah. I also invited the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa). Later on, the Holy Prophet Muhammad (sa) gave me some land, and Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq (ra) also gave me land and with the income from this land, we lived comfortably.’

Muhammad (sa) – The Perfect Man (Qadian, India: Nazarat Isha’at, 2015), 265-268.