Abu Dujanah always used to pray behind Nabi (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam). As soon as he would finish his Salah, he would immediately leave the Masjid. This caught the eyes of Nabi (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) so one day he stopped him and asked: ‘O Abu Dujanah, don’t you need anything from Allah?” Abu Dujanah (radiyallahu ‘anhu) replied: ‘O Messenger of Allah, Yes I do. I can’t live without Allah even with a blink of an eye.’
Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) asked: ‘So why don’t you stay with us after Salah and supplicate unto Allah?’ Abu Dujanah replied: ‘The reason is that I have a Jewish neighbour who has a date palm tree, and its branches come over into the courtyard of my house. So when the wind blows at night, the dates fall into my courtyard.
That is why you see me coming out of the Masjid quickly, so as I can go and collect the dates and return them to the owner, before my kids wake up. Once they wake up, they will eat them as they are hungry. I swear to you, O Messenger of Allah,
that one day I saw one of my children chewing the date, and I put my finger in his throat and took it out before he could swallow it. When my son cried, I said to him, ‘Do not disgrace your father in the hereafter.’ The child cried due to extreme hunger. I told him, ‘I will not allow haram to enter your belly even if you have to pass away.’
Hearing the story of Abu Dujanah, Nabi (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) and the Sahabah shed tears. Nabi (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) then ordered ‘Umar (radiyallahu ‘anhu) to gather the neighbours of Abu Dujanah. Once gathered,
Nabi (sallallahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said, O you the owner of a tree whose trunk reaches your neighbour’s house, Abu Dujanah, I wish to buy your tree in exchange of ten palm trees in heaven, whose roots are from the green gem,
the tree of gold, and the branches of the pearls, and a maiden [hur] for each of the dates in the tree.’ The owner of the tree who later became known as a hypocrite turned him down ‘I do not want to sell it at the price you promised in the hereafter, but if you want to buy it then I sell it for cash!”.
