Sayyiduna Abdullah bin Abbas (may Allah be pleased with them both) narrates: After the day had risen, Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) came to the mosque. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) heard his voice and said: O Abu Bakr, you do not usually come at this time. Sayyiduna Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) replied: I have come at this time due to severe hunger. Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: By Allah, I have also come only for this reason. While both of them were in this state, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) came to them. He asked: Why have you both come at this time? They both replied: By Allah, we have come out at this time due to extreme hunger. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: By the One in Whose Hand is my soul, I too have come out only for this reason. Get up, both of you. Then both of them went with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to the house of Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him). Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) used to keep food and milk, etc., saved for the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him). That day, he was delayed and had not come at that time. He had fed his family and gone to his date orchard to work there.

When these noble ones reached the house of Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him), his wife came out. She said: Welcome to the Prophet of Allah and his companions. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) asked the woman: Where is Abu Ayyub? Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub (may Allah be pleased with him) heard your voice while he was working in his orchard. He came quickly and said: Welcome to the Prophet of Allah and his companions. O Prophet of Allah, you do not usually come at this time. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to him: You have spoken the truth. The narrator says: Then Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) went and brought every kind of date from his orchard—dry, fresh, and moist dates. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: I did not want you to bring all these; you should have brought only dry dates for us. He replied: O Prophet of Allah, I wanted you to eat every kind of date, both dry and fresh. Along with this, I will also slaughter an animal for you. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: If you are going to slaughter, then do not slaughter a milk-giving animal. Then he slaughtered a kid of a goat or sheep and said to his wife: You bake bread and knead the dough for us, for you make good bread. Then he took the kid and cooked it, and roasted half of it. When the food was ready, it was placed before the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and his companions. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) took some meat, placed it with bread, and said: O Abu Ayyub! Take this to Fatimah, for she too has not eaten for several days. Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) went to deliver that food to Sayyidah Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her). When these noble ones had eaten and were satisfied, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: Bread and meat, dry, fresh, and moist dates—then tears flowed from his eyes. He said: By the One in Whose Hand is my soul, these are the blessings about which you will be questioned. The command of Allah, the Exalted, is: "On that Day, you will surely be questioned about the blessings." ()

(The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:) So these are the blessings about which you will be held accountable on the Day of Resurrection. This was burdensome for his companions, so he said: When you are granted such blessings, then stretch forth your hands and say Bismillah, and when you are satisfied, recite this: "All praise is due to Allah alone, Who has satisfied us and bestowed blessings and favor upon us." This will suffice for them. When they were about to leave, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said to Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub (may Allah be pleased with him): Come to us tomorrow. Whenever any good was done to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he liked to return it. The narrator says: Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) did not hear this, so Sayyiduna Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) has instructed you to present yourself to him tomorrow. The next day, Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) came to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) gave him his slave-girl. He said: O Abu Ayyub, accept the advice of goodness regarding her, for as long as she was with us, we saw only good in her. When Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) took the slave-girl from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), he said: Regarding the goodness the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) advised about her, I find nothing better than to set her free. So Sayyiduna Abu Ayyub Ansari (may Allah be pleased with him) set her free.