The Section on Contracts · 91 – The person who damages something is liable to pay for its equivalent.
Anas (RA) narrated:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was in the house of one of his wives. Another of the mothers of the believers sent to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ a bowl containing food with her slave girl. The wife of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ who was in the house struck the bowl in the hand of the slave girl, breaking it. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ joined the broken pieces of the bowl together and filled the spilled food back into the bowl, saying: "Your mother is jealous."
In the narration of Ibn Mūsannā, he added that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “Eat.” Those present ate the food. Consequently, she who broke the bowl brought a sound bowl from her own house (and gave it to the slave girl).
Now we return to the wording of the hadith narrated by Musaddad from the narrators. The Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: "Eat." He kept the slave girl who brought the food and the bowl until they finished eating. Then he gave the sound dish to the slave girl. He left the broken bowl in his house. [312]
COMMENTARY:
The Messenger of Allah ﷺ was in the house of Aisha (RA). The one who sent the food was Safiya, one of the wives of the Prophet ﷺ. She broke the bowl out of jealousy towards the companionship of Aisha (RA). As a penalty, she compensated for the broken bowl by giving a sound bowl.
Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) related: "I have not seen anyone who cooked food as beautifully as Safiyya. She prepared food and sent it to the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings upon him). A tremor seized me, I broke the bowl that Safiyya had sent, and I said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, what is the expiation for what I have done?’ The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings upon him) said, 'An obligation of a broken bowl and an offering of spilled food.'"