Ibne Abbas has narrated:
“Both Hasan and Husayn were sick when the Prophet, along with a group of his companions came to see how they were doing. The Prophet said to Imam ʿ’Ali:" ‘O’ Abul Hasan! It would be good if you took an oath (to Allah) for your children to be cured from their sickness."
Thus, Imam Ali and Fatima, and their female-servant, Fidhdhah, made an oath to Allah that if the children recovered, then they would fast for three days (according to some traditions, Hasan and Husayn also took part in the oath that they would fast for three days as well).
A short time elapsed and both of them were cured from their sickness, and then, they started to fulfil their covenant. Even though they had very little food in the house, Imam Ali still divided the barely he had at home into three portions and his wife, Fatima took one-third of this and ground it into flour and baked bread with it.
At the time of breaking the fast, a beggar came to the door of their house and said: "Peace be upon you, O’ family of Muhammad! I am a poor person from among the poor Muslims. Please give me some food - may Allah bless you with food from paradise!"
All of the members of the house placed this poor person’s needs ahead of their own and each of them gave their portion of bread to the poor man and that evening, they all broke their fast with only water.
On the second day, they also kept a fast and at the time of breaking the fast with the food which had been prepared (barley bread), an orphan came to the door and just like the previous day, they gave the orphan whatever they had. Again, they broke their fast with only water and prepared to begin the third day of fasting.
On the third day, a war-captive came to their house at sunset, asking for food and once again, this family gave away all of the food which they had! When the morning of the fourth day rose, Imam Ali took Hasan and Husayn by the hand and went to see the Prophet. When the Prophet set eyes upon them, he saw them trembling due to their intense hunger! He immediately said to them: ‘It is very troubling for me to see you in such a state!’
The Prophet got up and accompanied them to the house of Fatima and saw her standing in the prayer niche. She too was suffering the pangs of hunger which were evident from her frail body and the heavy inset of her eyes. Witnessing this heart-breaking sight, the Prophet became extremely grieved.
Immediately at this point, the Angel Gabriel came down and said:
O Muhammad! Take this chapter (of the Qur’an) Allah sends his salutations upon such a family."
The Prophet then recited the chapter which was revealed to him 1:
And they give food in spite of love for it to the needy, the orphan, and the captive" 2
and they were fed with heavenly food.
according to some scholars the Prophet recited from “…surely the righteous…” until “…surely your endeavors shall be thanked…” which makes up eighteen verses which were revealed to him. 3
[1] Abd Al Husayn Amini/ Al-Ghadir/ translated by Jamal Mousavi/ vol 5/ p169-194
[2] Quran76:8 وَ يُطْعِمُونَ الطَّعَامَ عَلَى حُبِّهِ مِسْكِينًا وَيَتِيمًا وَأَسِيرًا
[3] Nasir Makarim Shirazi /Fatima Zahra’ in the Noble Qur’an/ translated by Shaykh Saleem Bhimji/ p 15
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