Once, many guests arrived at Sayyiduna Shaykh Abul Hasan Antaaki’s house. At night, when dinner was to be served, bread was in less quantity. Therefore, pieces of bread were kept on the dining mat and lamp was kept at some other place. In the dark, all the guests sat to have the meal. After some time, when the lamp was brought, assuming that all people would have finished eating, all the pieces of bread were kept as it is on the dining mat. Everyone showed their mettle in acting selflessly and did not take even a bite because everyone had the Madani mindset that, ‘I shall not eat so that my Islamic brother may fill his stomach.’ (Ithaf-us-Sadah, vol. 9, pp. 783)
May Allah عَزَّوَجَلَّ have mercy on them and forgive us without accountability for their sake!
Allah! Allah! How great was the desire of our saints to act selflessly. Regretfully, today our greediness and cupidity has increased to such an extent that when we attend a party and the feast begins, we eat quickly to such extent that we forget to ‘chew and eat’, instead we just ‘gulp down’ the food. We have the fear that our Islamic brother may succeed in having the meal and we may be left behind!
Our state of greediness has increased so much that if possible, we may snatch morsel even from one’s mouth and swallow it.