Nafi' (may Allah have mercy on him) narrates from Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) that the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) came out at a time when he (peace and blessings be upon him) did not usually come out. Then Abu Bakr came out, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: "O Abu Bakr! What has brought you out?" He said: Hunger has brought me out. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "And the same thing that brought you out has brought me out." Then Umar came out, and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: "O Umar! What has brought you out?" He said: By the One who sent you with the truth, hunger has brought me out. Then some of his Companions came to him (peace and blessings be upon him), and he (peace and blessings be upon him) said to them: "Come with us to the house of Abu al-Haytham bin al-Tayyihan." So they set off. When they reached the house of Abu al-Haytham, his wife said: Abu al-Haytham has gone to fetch sweet water for us; come round to the garden. She opened the gate of the garden for them and they sat down. Then Abu al-Haytham came, and his wife said to him: Do you know who is with you? He said: No. She said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions are with you. So he came in, tied his horse to the trunk of a date palm, then came to them, greeted them with peace and welcomed them. Then he went to his fruit-picking implement, came to a bunch of dates and picked fresh dates for them, and he poured them out before them. Then Abu al-Haytham turned towards his goats in a corner of the garden to slaughter one of them for them, and the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: "Not one that gives milk." So he took a goat, slaughtered it, skinned it, cut it up into joints and cooked it in water and salt. Then he went to his wife and asked: Do you have anything? She said: Yes, we have a little barley which we had been keeping aside. So the two of them ground it together, then she kneaded it and baked it. Abu al-Haytham broke it up and poured over it the meat he had cooked, then brought it to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) and his Companions, and they ate. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Abu al-Haytham! Do you not have a servant?" He said: No, by the One who sent you with the truth, we have no servant. He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "When you hear that captives have come to us, come to us and we will give you a servant." Then captives came to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), and Abu al-Haytham came. Before him (peace and blessings be upon him) were two slave boys, or he said: two young servants. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Abu al-Haytham! Choose one of the two," or he said: "Take your pick of the two." Abu al-Haytham said: O Messenger of Allah! You choose for me. The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) looked carefully, even rolling up his sleeves from his forearms, and said: "The one whose counsel is sought is entrusted. O Abu al-Haytham! Take this one." When Abu al-Haytham was leaving with him, he (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "O Abu al-Haytham! Treat him well, for I have seen him praying." Abu al-Haytham said: Yes, we will feed him from what we eat and clothe him from what we wear, and we will not burden him with work beyond his strength. So Abu al-Haytham went to his family, and they were overjoyed with him and said: Praise be to Allah who has granted us a servant to serve us and help us with our farming. Abu al-Haytham said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) has given me an instruction concerning him. His wife said: Yes, we will feed him from what we eat and clothe him from what we wear, and we will not burden him with work beyond his strength. Abu al-Haytham said: The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) has given me an instruction concerning him. His wife said: Subhan Allah! A servant whom Allah and His Messenger have given us for our service, and you want to deprive us of him? So Abu al-Haytham said to the slave: You are free for the sake of Allah. If you would like to stay with us, we will feed you from what we eat and clothe you from what we wear and will not burden you with work beyond your strength; and if you wish, go wherever you wish.
Hadith Referenceالمعجم الكبير للطبراني / باب الميم / 16618