Surah Al-Hashr (59) — Ayah 9

And (it is also) for those who settled in the city (of Madinah) and had adopted faith before them. They love those who emigrated to them, and find no desire in their hearts for what is given to them (the emigrants) [11], but give them preference over themselves, even though they themselves are in need. And whoever is saved from the greed [12] of his soul, it is they who are the successful.

[11]
The Ansar’s Selflessness for the Muhajirin and Their Share in Fay’:

In this verse, Allah Almighty has described the great virtue of those who, before the Muslims migrated to Madinah, had already believed due to the pledge of Aqabah, and who embraced the emigrant Muslims as soon as they arrived. And in the matter of settling the Muhajirin, they set such an example that the entire history of the world is unable to present anything like it. These earliest Ansar included the Muhajirin in their properties, homes, and orchards. Thus, Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah ؓ narrates that at that time the Ansar of Madinah said to the Prophet ﷺ: “Please divide the date-palm trees between us and our Muhajir brothers.” The Prophet ﷺ replied: “That cannot be (the property will remain yours).” Then the Ansar said to the Muhajirin: “Alright, do this: you take care of the trees, and we will share the produce with you.” The Muhajirin said: “Very good! We have heard and we accept.” [بخاری۔ کتاب الشروط۔ باب الشروط فی المعاملۃ]

The next level of selflessness was that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said that the Muhajirin do not know farming. So the Ansar also helped their Muhajir brothers in this matter, and accepted to give them half the produce. And now, when it was time to distribute the wealth of Banu Nadir as fay’, the Ansar themselves said: “Distribute this wealth among the Muhajirin, and let our previous orchards remain with us (i.e., now the Muhajirin will not share in them). In fact, if you ﷺ deem it appropriate, we are ready to give from them as well.” This was the selflessness due to which their rank became very high, and Allah especially praised these Ansar. Allah Almighty declared as a right that such selfless Ansar should also be given special consideration in the wealth of fay’, but they, out of selflessness, relinquished their right in favor of their Muhajir brothers. The place this selflessness earned in the hearts of the Muhajirin is clear from the following hadith: Sayyiduna Umar ؓ (at the time of his death) advised: “Whoever becomes the caliph after me should recognize the right of the Muhajirin and also the right of the Ansar, who, before the migration of the Noble Prophet ﷺ, had settled in Madinah and upheld faith. The caliph must value those among them who are good, and overlook the faults of those who are bad.” [بخاري۔ كتاب التفسير]

And the happiness the Ansar felt at the arrival of the Muhajirin is evident from the following hadith:

The Happiness of the Ansar at the Arrival of the Muhajirin:

Sayyiduna Bara’ bin Azib ؓ says that (in Madinah) the first among the companions of the Prophet ﷺ to come to us were Mus‘ab bin ‘Umair ؓ and Abdullah bin Umm Maktum. Both of them taught us the Quran. Then ‘Ammar bin Yasir ؓ, Bilal ؓ, and Sa‘d bin Abi Waqqas ؓ came. Then Sayyiduna Umar ؓ came, bringing twenty men with him. After them, you ﷺ arrived. The people of Madinah had never been as happy as they were at your ﷺ arrival. Even the boys and girls were saying: “Look! The Messenger of Allah ﷺ has arrived!” I had already memorized Surah Al-A‘la and several other surahs like it before your arrival. [بخاري۔ كتاب التفسير۔ سورة الاعليٰ]

During those days, an individual incident also occurred in which an Ansari demonstrated remarkable selflessness. The hadith scholars have also included this incident in the commentary of this verse. And the hadith is as follows:

A Unique Story of the Ansar’s Selflessness:

Sayyiduna Abu Hurairah ؓ says that a man (Abu Hurairah) came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: “O Messenger of Allah ﷺ! I am very hungry.” The Prophet ﷺ inquired among his wives, but nothing was found there. Then the Prophet ﷺ said to the companions: “Is there anyone who will host this man tonight? May Allah have mercy on him.” An Ansari (Abu Talhah) said: “O Messenger of Allah ﷺ! I will host him.” And he took this man (Abu Hurairah) to his home and said to his wife (Umm Sulaym): “This man is a guest sent by the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, so feed him whatever is available.” She said: “By Allah, I have only enough food for the children.” Abu Talhah said: “Alright, do this: when the children ask for food, put them to sleep. And when we (I and the guest) sit to eat, extinguish the lamp. In this way, we both will not eat anything tonight (and the guest will eat).” So Umm Sulaym did just that. In the morning, when Abu Talhah came to the Prophet ﷺ, the Prophet ﷺ said: “Allah Almighty was very pleased with such-and-such man (Abu Talhah) and such-and-such woman (Umm Sulaym), and He laughed.” At that time, Allah Almighty revealed this verse: ﴿وَيُؤْثِرُوْنَ عَلٰٓي اَنْفُسِهِمْ وَلَوْ كَانَ بِهِمْ خَصَاصَةٌ﴾ [بخاري۔ كتاب التفسير]

[12]
The Lexical Meaning of ﴿شُحَّ﴾:

In ﴿شُحَّ﴾, there are two aspects: one is being greedy in accumulating wealth, and the other is being extremely stingy in spending wealth. And the person in whom both these vices are combined is called shaheeh and shahaah. Now, such a person can develop qualities like narrow-mindedness, lack of tolerance, hard-heartedness, and lack of compassion, etc., and everyone can estimate their effects. Although love of wealth is part of human nature, to become blindly obsessed with wealth and a worshipper of it is an extremely vile trait, from which only Allah can save. Islam, to cure this bad trait, shows the way of spending in the path of Allah, charity, and selflessness, through which generosity, broad-mindedness, sympathy, compassion, and brotherhood are fostered. Thus, being saved from ﴿شح﴾ is a great success and becomes a means of entering Paradise.