A Sense of Humor from the Past
Asslamu alaykum.
This is to all my brothers and sisters. These are some stories of the Prophet (saws) and his Companions in which they exemplify their sense of humor.
The Prophet (PBUH): She-camel
A man came to the Prophet pbuh to ask him to give him a beast to ride. The Prophet pbuh jokingly told him, I will give you the offspring of a she-camel to ride." He said, "O Messenger of Allah (pbuh), what will I do with the offspring of a she-camel?" The Prophet pbuh said: "Are riding-camels born except from she-camels?" [Reported by Ahmad, Abu Dawud and al-Tirmidhi, with a sahih isnad.]
'A'ishah: Come on, let us have a race
One of the hadiths that reflects the Prophet's sense of humour and enjoyment of fun is the report that Ahmad gives from 'A'ishah who said:
"I went out with the Prophet (pbuh) on a journey. At that time I was a young girl and was quite slender. The Prophet (pbuh) told the people, 'Go on ahead,' so they went ahead, then he said to me, 'Come, let us have a race.' So I raced with him, and I won. He let the matter rest until I had gained weight. Later, I accompanied him on another journey. He told the people, 'Go on ahead,' so they went ahead. He said to me, 'Come, let us have a race.' So I raced with him, and he won. He began to laugh, and said, 'This is for that."'
Wow… Nu’ayman (radianlahuanhu) I have no idea how he got away with some of this stuff.
Nu'ayman ibn 'Amr: Oh Nuayman !!!!
Nuayman lived on after the Prophet and continued to enjoy the affection of Muslims. But did he put an end to his laughter? During the caliphate of Uthman, a group of Sahaba were sitting in the Masjid. They saw Makhramah ibn Nawfal, an old man who was about one hundred and fifteen years old and obviously rather senile. He was related to the sister of Abdur-Rahman ibn Awf, who was a wife of Nuayman.
Makhramah was blind. He was so weak that he could hardly move from his place in the Masjid. He got up to urinate and might have done so in the Masjid. But the companions shouted at him to prevent him from doing so.. Nuayman got up and went to take him to another place, as he was instructed. What is this other place that Nuayman took him to? In fact he took him only a short distance away from where he was sitting at first and sat him down.
The place was still in the Masjid!! ..
People shouted at Makhramah and made him get up again all in a frenzy. The poor old man was distressed and said: "Who has done this?" "An-Nuayman ibn Amr," he was told.
The old man swore and announced that he would bash Nuayman on the head with his stick if he should meet him.
Nuayman left and returned. He was up to some prank of his again. He saw Uthman ibn Affan, the Amir al-Muminim, performing Salat in the Masjid. Uthman was never distracted when he stood for Prayer. Nuayman also saw Makhramah. He went up to him and in a changed voice said: "Do you want to get at Nuayman?"
The old man remembered what Nuayman had done. He remembered his vow and shouted: "Yes, where is he?" Nuayman took him by the hand and led him to the place where the Khalifah Uthman stood and said to him: "Here he is!"
The old man raised his staff and bashed the head of Uthman. Blood flowed and the people shouted: "It's the Amir al-Muminin!"
They dragged Makhramah away and some people set out to get Nuayman but Uthman restrained them and asked them to leave him alone.
In spite of the blows he had suffered, he was still able to laugh at the deeds of an-Nuayman!
Nu'ayman ibn 'Amr: ‘I am a free man!’
A report given by Imam Ahmad from Umm Salamah
Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) went to do business in Busra, and with him were Nu'ayman and Suwaybit ibn Harmalah (may Allah be pleased with them), both of whom had been present at Badr. Suwaybit was in charge of food on the journey, and Nu'ayman said to him, "Feed me!"
Suwaybit said, "Not until Abu Bakr comes."..
Nu'ayman was a fun-loving man with a sense of humour, so he went to some people who had brought livestock with them, and said,
"Will you buy a sturdy Arab slave from me?"
They said, "Yes."
He said, "He has a big mouth, and he may tell you that he is a free man. If that means that you do not want to take him, then forget the matter, and do not cause trouble for me with him."
They said, "No problem, we will buy him."
So they bought him for ten young she-camels. Nu'ayman brought the animals back, and told the people: "There he is!"
Suwaybit said: "I am a free man!"
They said, "He has already told us all about you," and put a rope around his neck and led him away.
Then Abu Bakr came, and was told what had happened. He and his companions went and returned the animals and took Suwaybit back. They told the Prophet (pbuh) what had happened, and he and his Sahabah would laugh about the story for a year afterwards.
Source:Hayat Al Sahabah
Nu'ayman ibn 'Amr: The ones who told you are the ones who told me
A Bedouin came to the Prophet pbuh. He entered the mosque and left his camel in the courtyard. Some of his Companions said to Nu'ayman ibn 'Amr al-Ansari, who was known as al-Nu'ayman: "If you slaughter it, we will eat it, because we want to have some meat, and the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) will pay for it." So al-Nu'ayman slaughtered it. Then the Bedouin came out and saw his saddle, so he shouted, "They have slaughtered my camel, O Muhammad!" The Prophet pbuh came out and asked: "Who did this?" They said, "Al-Nu'ayman"..
So he went looking for him, and found him at the home of Duba'ah bint al-Zubayr ibn 'Abdul Muttalib, where he had hidden in a ditch and covered himself with palm branches and leaves. A man pointed to where he was and said, loudly, "I have not seen him, O Messenger of Allah." The Prophet pbuh brought him out of the ditch, and his face was dirty from where the leaves had fallen on him. The Prophet pbuh asked him, "Why did you do that?" Al-Nu'ayrnan said: "The ones who told you where I was, O Messenger of Allah, are the same ones who told me to do it." The Prophet pbuh began wiping his face and laughing, then he paid the price of the slaughtered camel.
- [reported from Hayat As Sahabah, 3/154, 155]
Nu'ayman ibn 'Amr: Here's a gift. But pay for it!
Once Nuayman went to the suq and saw some food being sold which appeared to be tasty and delightful. He ordered some and sent it to the Prophet as if it were a gift from him. The Prophet was delighted with the food and he and his family ate of it.
The vendor of the food then came to Nuayman to collect the price of it and an-Nuayman said to him: "Go to the Messenger of God it was for him. He and his family ate it." ..
The vendor went to the Prophet who in turn asked Nuayman: "Didn't you give it to me?" "Yes," said Nuayman. "I thought you would like it and I wanted you to eat some of it so I had it presented to you. But I don't have any dirhams to pay the vendor for it. So, pay, O Messenger of God!"
The Prophet had a good laugh and so did his companions. The laugh was at his expense, literally, for he had to pay the price of the unsolicited gift. Nuayman felt that two benefits came out of the incident: the Prophet and his family ate food that they enjoyed and the Muslims had a good laugh!
From Alim Online
Feel free to add more!!
Wassalam.
