A man came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and said, "I am exhausted from hunger."The Prophet ﷺ sent word to one of his wives, who replied, "By the One who sent you with the truth, I have nothing but water."He sent to another, who gave the same reply, and so it went with all of them, each saying, "No, by the One who sent you with the truth, I have nothing but water."Then he said, "Who will host this man tonight, may Allah have mercy on him?"A man from the Ansar stood up and said, "I will, Messenger of Allah."He took him to his home and asked his wife, "Do you have anything?"She replied, "Nothing except food for the children."He said, "Distract them with something, and when our guest comes in, put out the lamp and make it appear that we are eating. When he reaches out to eat, get up to the lamp and put it out."So they sat down and the guest ate. In the morning, the host went to the Prophet ﷺ, who said to him, "Allah marveled at what the two of you did for your guest tonight."
جاء رجل إلى رسول الله ﷺ، فقال: إني مجهود، فأرسل إلى بعض نسائه، فقالت: والذي بعثك بالحق، ما عندي إلا ماء، ثم أرسل إلى أخرى، فقالت مثل ذلك، حتى قلن كلهن مثل ذلك: لا والذي بعثك بالحق، ما عندي إلا ماء، فقال: من يضيف هذا الليلة رحمه الله؟ فقام رجل من الأنصار، فقال: أنا، يا رسول الله، فانطلق به إلى رحله، فقال لامرأته: هل عندك شيء؟ قالت: لا إلا قوت صبياني، قال: فعلليهم بشيء، فإذا دخل ضيفنا فأطفئ السراج، وأريه أنا نأكل، فإذا أهوى ليأكل، فقومي إلى السراج حتى تطفئيه، قال: فقعدوا وأكل الضيف، فلما أصبح غدا على النبي ﷺ، فقال: قد عجب الله من صنيعكما بضيفكما الليلة.
Bukhari narrated it in the Virtues of the Ansar (3798) and Muslim in the Book of Drinks (2054:172), and this wording is his, both from the hadith of Fudayl bin Ghazwan, from Abu Hazim Ashjai, from Abu Hurairah, who said, then he mentioned it. And the man from the Ansar was Abu Talha.