The vow
When Hasan and Husayn (a) fell ill as small children, their parents vowed to fast three days if God healed them, and their maid Fidda joined the vow. The children recovered, and the household began the fast with a few loaves of barley bread for the evening meal. At sunset on the first day a poor man knocked at the door asking for food; on the second an orphan; on the third a captive. Each night the family gave away its bread and broke the fast on water.
The revelation
Shia exegetes and many Sunni ones record that the Prophet (s), finding them pale with hunger on the fourth day, received the revelation of Surah al-Insan, whose verses describe the righteous who "feed, for the love of God, the poor, the orphan and the captive" and expect no thanks, and promises them the garden. The surah is called Hal Ata from its opening words. The Shia commemorate the revelation on 25 Dhu l-Hijja, the day after the Mubahila, so that the two proofs of the Ahl al-Bayt's (a) rank fall together at the year's end.
Why it matters
The Verse of Feeding is counted with the Verses of Purification, Love and Mubahala among the Qur'anic merits of the household, and the story is the classic lesson of selfless charity in Shia teaching.
Written for Shia Online Community. Dates and facts are checked against the references listed under Research & books; where the tradition records more than one date, all are given.
