The Rich Man, Poor Man
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Elias Hussaina, Chennai
Once upon a time there lived a poor man named Ali. He worked hard for his living and was contented with whatever he had. Now Ali had a neighbour Kasim who was as stingy as he was rich. It never gave him pleasure to see others, specially his poor neighbour, happy. He was always on the look out for an excuse to get Ali into trouble.
One day, Kasim held a feast in his house. The aroma of all the delicacies cooked in his house wafted in the wind and spread all over the neighborhood. Kasim, of course never cared to invite his poor neighbour. Instead, he peeped over from his balcony into his neighbour’s courtyard. To his consternation, he saw the poor man sitting and enjoying the delicious smell coming from his kitchen. Kasim’s heart almost stopped in shock.
“What!” thought he, “How dare that pauper inhale the aroma from my kitchen? My Kitchen! The aroma from the food cooked with my money! The rascal! I will make him pay for this! I will take him to the Qazi and demand justice!”
Seething with anger, Kasim marched to Ali’s house. Without so much as a greeting, he shouted to his neighbour.
“You robber, you thief! How dare you steal from my house!”
Poor Ali could not understand what theft he was being accused of. Without enlightening him, Kasim dragged the poor man to the Qazi. Word spread like wildfire and a great crowd gathered to watch the proceedings.
Kasim stood before the Qazi and presented his case in a loud and pompous voice.
“Your Honour, this man had the audacity to sit in his backyard and without so much as lifting a finger, enjoy the delicious aroma of food coming from my kitchen. I demand payment for the pleasure that he enjoyed at my expense. Your Honour, you have always been just and I am sure that you will mete out justice in this case too.”
Indeed the Qazi was a just man - as honourable and witty as he was just. He listened quietly - the shock on his face was slowly replaced by a twinkle in his eyes. Now he turned to Ali.
“ Is what this man says true? Did you enjoy at his expense?”
“Yes, your Honor, but I could not help it.”
“Ali, you have to pay Kasim for the favour enjoyed. The court orders both of you to come here tomorrow at the same time. By God, justice will be done!”
Kasim gave Ali a scornful look and walked out of the place with a victorious smile on his lips. Poor Ali was bewildered. Just as he was leaving, the Qazi caleed to him to a corner and whispered something in his ear. Ali’s face lit up and he hurried to his house.
Next day, the court was overflowing. The whole town, which knew about the low character of Kasim and the innocent nature of Ali, were curious as to how their Qazi would solve this problem. Both Kasim and Ali were brought before the Qazi.
Ali carried with him a big box. Kasim’s face glowed with anticipation as he recognized Ali’s money box.
‘All my money, your honour, said Ali.
“Okay. Now, shake the box so that all of us can be sure your box contains money”.
Ali shook the money box vigorously and there was a loud jingling noise. The Qazi turned to Kasim.
“Oh Kasim, doesn’t that sound lovely?”
“Aah, yes, yes, Your honour”.
“Ali, shake the box once more”, the Qazi commanded. Ali obeyed.
“Kasim, don’t you feel happy to hear the sound of so many coins?” the Qazi queried.
His eyes glittering, Kasim exclaimed, “Oh your honour, the sound of that money gives me utmost pleasure!” so saying, the greedy man was about to grab the money box from Ali.
“Don’t you dare touch it!” The grim voice of the Qazi rang out. “Ali has paid you in full measure. Just as the aroma of your food gave him pleasure, so did the sound of his money gave you pleasure. You have been paid back in the same coin- Justice has been done.”
The court room rang with thundering applause for the Qazi for his keen wit and intelligence. The Qazi, his voice still grim, pronounced further: “Kasim, pay Ali one hundred gold coins and punishment for harassing your neighbour and disturbing peace of his household”
Ali returned home happy man and Kasim a wiser man.
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The Minister and the Fishermen-II
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A. I. Makki
The Story so far: poor fishermen in the villages of Ratnagiri coast had elected one of their leaders to be a member of the Parliament. During elections he had promised that he will solve their problems. He soon became a minister and got a bungalow on the hill top overlooking the coastal villages. Now he had car, servants and bodyguards. He enjoyed the sight of the hills and the sea but never entered the villages he came from. Comforts of life had made him forget the miseries of the people. He continuously postponed his visit. He considered peoples problems as petty matters.
In the town, however there was great unhappiness. The crops had failed for want of rains. There was drought, hunger and starvation. The fishermen were less than lucky. There were no fishes in this part of the sea. It looked as if all the fish had agreed to seek a refuge in other waters. They had to venture out deeper into the sea on their old rafts and leaky boats before they could catch any fish. Those caught were barely enough to meet the hunger of the members in a family. Nothing remained to sell in the nearby cities. With no money to buy food, there was despair and misery everywhere.
In his bungalow, the minister had enough food stocked to last him an entire lifetime. His storehouse was well stocked with vegetables and other delicacies that money could buy. The minister was unaware of what was happening to the townsfolk, because he rarely spoke to them and did not care much about their lives. Whenever any person of the village made bold to go up the hill with a complaint, he was rudely turned away by the bodyguards. If anybody insisted, he would be given a sound thrashing for daring to come up the hill with his complaint. As a result everybody became afraid of going up to the minister with his grievances.
Finally, in desperation, an old fisherman from the town volunteered to go and speak to the minister to look into the problems of the people. “Why not?” he reasoned, “I am old and will soon die, anyway. If I don’t die of old age, I will surely die of starvation.”
And so he set out, slowly climbing the hill to reach the minister’s bungalow.
It so happened that the minister was taking a leisurely walk just outside his bungalow with his two bodyguards at that time, enjoying the evening breeze that came from the seaside, when he ran into the old man on his way to meet him. To keep up appearances of being courteous, he invited the old man in his bungalow, for a cup of evening tea and snacks. After all, he rarely had visitors from the town. It would be interesting to find out, what the old man had to say about the people of the town.
The old fisherman described to the minister the woes of the people. The minister was not accustomed to hearing complaints. In fact, he was bored to death by the story of this old man. He yawned and replied, “That’s not my concern. I don’t feel hungry and I don’t feel their hunger.”
The old fisherman started seething with anger. He thought he would explode any minute at the casual approach and words of the minister to the problems of the people of the town, but he quickly realized that such an outburst would get him nothing, and the bodyguards would give him a beating, and throw him out of the bungalow, at a small sign from the minister. (What happened later, follow next month)
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Prophet Salih (A.H)
07camel.jpgHazrat Saleh was born among a people who were known as the nation of Thamud (Samood) who lived in Hijr, midway between Hijaz and Syria. The people of Thamud had beautiful gardens. There were springs, date palms and trees which had plenty of fruit. The houses of Thamud were carved into rocks and mountains. ‘Worship only Allah’, Salih told his people. ‘You have no other God apart from Allah, so you should do good. I am giving you good advice: You should believe what I say, for Allah has made me His Prophet’. But only those people of Thamud who were not rich and not strong believed, and did as Prophet Salih had said. The rich and powerful people of Thamud said to Salih: We don’t believe and follow your preachings. You are nothing but a man, just like any of us. If you are speaking the truth, then show us a sign. Salih brought a camel and said: This camel will be a sign for you from Allah. Let her graze on Allah’s meadow and let her drink when she is thirsty.
Palaces of Madain Saleh carved out of RocksThink of how good Allah has been to you and all that He has give to you. You should not do evil and cause trouble on this earth. If you do, a harsh punishment will fall upon you. Despite Salih’s instructions and teaching, the arrogant people of Thamud still refused to listen to him. Instead of leaving the camel in peace to graze, they did a very cruel thing: They cut the tendons on her legs. Thus they openly broke Allah’s command. Afterwards, they called Salih and said: Now bring us the punishment of which you have been warning us. Salih’s promise of disaster came true. After three days, there was a terrible earthquake and all the evil-doers perished. Such was their punishment because they did not obey Allah. Today, this area is called Fajjun Naaqah. The remnants of their towns are there till today. The famous Arab historian, Mas’ood : “These remains lie on the road between Syria and Hijaz.” Story of Saleh has been mentioned in verses of the Quran at eight places.
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Prophet's Companion
Muadh ibn Jabal (R.A)
Muadh ibn Jabal was a young man growing up in Yathrib ( Madinah) as the light of guidance and truth began to spread over the Arabian peninsula.
He was a handsome and imposing character with black eyes and curly hair and immediately impressed whoever he met. He was already distinguished for the sharpness of his intelligence among young men of his own age. The young Muadh became a Muslim at the hands of Musab ibn Umayr, the dayee (missionary) whom the Prophet (Pbuh) had sent to Yathrib before the hijrah.
Muadh was among the seventy-two Yathribites who journeyed to Makkah, one year before the hijrah, and met the Prophet at his house and later again in the valley of Mina, outside Makkah, at Aqabah. Here the famous second Aqabah Pledge was made at which the new Muslims of Yathrib, including some women, vowed to support and defend the Prophet at any cost. Muadh was among those who enthusiastically clasped the hands of the blessed Prophet then and pledged allegiance to him. As soon as Muadh returned to Madinah from Makkah, he and a few others of his age formed a group to remove and destroy idols from the houses of the mushrikeen in Yathrib. One of the effects of this campaign was that a prominent man of the city, Amr ibn al-Jumuh, became a Muslim.
When the noble Prophet reached Madinah, Muadh ibn Jabal stayed in his company as much as possible. He studied the Quran and the laws of Islam until he became one of the most well-versed of all the companions in the religion of Islam. Wherever Muadh went, people would refer to him for legal judgments on matters over which they differed. This is not strange since he was brought up in the school of the Prophet himself and learnt as much as he could from him. He was the best pupil of the best teacher. His knowledge bore the stamp of authenticity. The best certificate that he could have received came from the Prophet himself when he said: “The most knowledgeable of my ummah in matters of Halal and Haram is Muadh ibn Jabal.”
One of the greatest of Muadhs contributions was that he was one of the group of six who collected the Quran during the lifetime of the Prophet (Pbuh). After the liberation of Makkah, the Quraysh became Muslims en masse. The Prophet immediately saw the need of the new Muslims for teachers to instruct them in the fundamentals of Islam and to make them truly understand the spirit and letter of its laws. He asked Muadh ibn Jabal to stay and teach people the Quran and instruct them in the religion.
Sometime after the Prophet had returned to Madinah, messengers of the kings of Yemen came to him announcing that they and the people of Yemen had become Muslims. They requested that some teachers should be with them to teach Islam to the people. For this task the Prophet commissioned a group of competent dayee’s (missionaries) and made Muadh ibn Jabal their amir.
During the caliphate of Umar, the governor of Syria, Yazid ibn Abi Sufyan sent a message saying:
“O Amir al-Mumineen! The people of Syria are many. They fill the towns. They need people to teach them the Quran and instruct them in the religion.” Ubadah ibn as-Samit was sent to Homs, Abu ad-Dardaa to Damascus and Muadh to Palestine.
He then passed away in palestine, far from his family and his clan, a dayee in the service of Allah and a muhajir in His path.
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Don't Believe it!
Fibs And Facts About Animals
A Pony is a young horse
07shetland poney1.jpgHorses come in many different sizes. Thoroughbred, Arabian, Palomino and Clydesdale are a few kinds. A pony is a different kind of horse. It is not a young horse. A young horse is a 'colt' if it is a male or a 'filly' if it is a female. Ponies are much smaller than most other kinds of horses. The best known pony is the Shetland pony (45" tall).
Fish never sleep
07GoldfishFish have big bulging eyes. They can see all around. But they do not have eyelids and cannot close their eyes. Then how do they sleep? Fish sleep with their eyes open. Some rest on the bottom of a sea, river or lake. They may doze under a covering of sand. Others nap while floating or swimming. (See some more of these next month.)
Compiled by Shafia Ahmed
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Historical Event
When the Samanid ruler, Nasr bin Ahmad ( 301 - 331 A.H), entered Nishapur, he held a court. After ascending the throne, he wanted the proceedings to be started with the recitation from the Holy Qur’an. At this an elderly pious man came forward and recited a section of the surah Al- Mu’min. When he came to the verse (On that Day it will be asked:) “ Whose is the Kingdom today?”
Nasr was struck with awe; he descended the throne trembling, took off the crown and fell down in prostration, saying: “ O my Lord, Kingdom is Yours, not mine!”
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Dua ( Supplication)
On Waking Up from a Bad Dream
A’udhu bikalimaatil lahit taammaati min ghadabihi wa ‘iqaabihi, wa sharri ibaadihi, wa min hamazatish shayaateeni wa an yahdurun.
I seek refuge in the Perfect Word of Allah from His anger and His punishment, from the evil of His slaves and from the taunts of jinn and from their presence.
[Abu Dawud 4/12. See also Al-Albani]
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Do You Know ?
When the supplication is more likely to be answered - these being:
1. The last third of the night.
2. At the time of the adhaan.
3. Between the adhaan and iqaamah.
4. At the ends of the prescribed prayers.
5. From the time the Imaam ascends the pulpit to the time the prayer has finished on the day of Jumah.
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