
A severe famine had taken hold of the land. People, tormented by hunger, were forced to beg. At that time, there was a wealthy man who had a stepdaughter. He treated this stepdaughter like a captive in his home, making her work relentlessly and subjecting her to all kinds of cruelty.
One day, while the poor girl was baking bread at home, a beggar came to the door and asked her for some bread. Although she feared her stepfather greatly, she feared Allah even more, and so she gave the man two pieces of bread. As the beggar joyfully took the bread and left, the girl’s stepfather arrived home.
He asked her:
“Did you give the bread?”
When the girl admitted that she had, the man tortured her so severely that he was not satisfied with what he had done. In his cruelty, he cut off her hand and threw her into the street.
Some people who knew the girl looked after her for a year or two, but it was not sustainable. She grew tired of being a burden on others. Unable to find work, she decided to beg. She went to a land where no one knew her and, with great difficulty, knocked on a door. A man opened it. With deep embarrassment, the girl said:
“Will you help me for the sake of Allah?”
The man felt compassion for the young woman begging at such an age. As he carefully examined her face, the girl turned away and began to leave. Wherever she had gone before, people assumed that her hand had been cut off because she was a thief, and therefore neither trusted her nor wished to help her. She assumed this man thought the same.
But before she could walk away from the door, the man called after her. With no choice, she turned back, wondering what he might say. The man asked whether she had anyone to care for her. With tears in her eyes, the girl replied that she had no one. Upon hearing this, the man proposed marriage to her. He had not yet noticed that her hand was missing. The girl, who had reached a mature age, immediately accepted the proposal.
A wedding ceremony was held, their marriage was solemnized, and on their wedding night they sat together to eat. When the man paid closer attention, he realized that the woman always ate with one hand. She broke the bread with the same hand and ate with the same hand. Thinking she was simply shy, the man asked:
“Why don’t you eat with both hands?”
Until that moment, the woman had not revealed that her hand was missing, for she was weary of being exposed and judged. She did not know what to do. If she said her hand had been cut off, he might assume she was a thief and abandon the marriage. If she explained the truth, she feared he might not believe her. In this extremely difficult moment, drenched in sweat and anxiety, divine inspiration came to her from Allah:
“Reveal your cut hand! Do not be afraid; We have returned your hand to you.”
Hesitantly, she looked at her arm and saw that her hand was indeed restored. Overjoyed, she thanked Allah for saving her from embarrassment. Their marriage continued happily thereafter. At an appropriate time, the woman told her husband about what had happened to her—that her hand had once been severed and that Allah had restored it, all because she had given bread to a beggar.
Upon hearing this, the man said:
“I was the poor man who took that bread from you. Praise be to Allah, I have now been saved from that poverty.”
Thus, the two companions of destiny continued their lives together. One day, as they were about to eat, there was a knock at the door. They saw a man, ragged and destitute, asking for a piece of bread. The woman recognized him as the stepfather who had cut off her hand and told her husband. However, they showed no sign of recognition. Instead, they treated him kindly, did all they could to help him, comforted him, and sent him away with goodwill.
“Whoever relieves a believer of worldly distress, Allah will relieve him of distress on the Day of Judgment.”