“The Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, entered into a mar- riage contract and he went in to his wife. My mother Umm Sulaym said to me: ‘We should send the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, a gift’. I agreed and said: ‘Yes, we should.” She prepared Hais (which is a mixture of dates, clarified butter and dry yo- gurt) and placed it in a ceramic vessel and asked me to take it to the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam. She told me to say: ‘My mother has sent this to you and she offers greetings to you, and says that it is a humble gift for you on our behalf, O Messenger of Allah’’. So I went with it to the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, and said: ‘My mother offers you salutations, and says that it is a humble gift for you on our behalf.’ He, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said: “Place it here”, and then said: “Go and invite on my behalf so and so and anyone whom you meet”, and he, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, even named some persons. Anas said: ‘I invited the people he named and whomever I met.’ One of the narrators said: ‘I asked Anas: How many (persons) were there?’ He (Anas) said: ‘There were about three hundred persons.’ Anas continued: ‘When I returned I found that the house was full of people. Then the Mes- senger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said to me: “O Anas, bring that earthen vessel.” I saw the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, placing his hand in the container and he said whatever Allah willed him to say, and then he, sallal- laahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, started calling people in groups of ten, and said: “Make a circle of ten [guests], and every person should eat from what is nearest to him.” They began to eat, until they ate to their fill. A group went out (after eating the food), and another group came in until all of them had eaten. He (the Prophet of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said to me: “Anas, lift it [the earthen vessel]” so I lifted it, but I could not assess whether it had more food when I placed it (before the Messenger of Allah, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) or when I lifted it (after the people had been served out of it).1