"Surely, the true religion in Allah's sight is Islam" (3:19)
Once at the time of Hajj, there was a gathering in Mecca of some friends of Allah; the youngest among whom was Junaid Baghdadi (ra). In that gathering, there was a discussion on the subject of ‘Love for Allah’ and as to who is the lover of Allah. Many of them expressed their views on the subject, but Junaid (ra) kept quiet. He was pressed to say something. With his head bowed down and tears in his eyes, he said,
Read moreDid you sharpen Yourself? Once upon a time a very strong woodcutter asked for a job in a timber merchant, and he got it. The pay was really good and so were the work conditions. For that reason,the woodcutter was determined to do his best. His boss gave him an axe and showed him the area where he was supposed to work. The first day, the woodcutter brought 18 trees. “Congratulations,” the boss said. “Go on that way!” Very motivated
Read moreThere was a young man who went overseas to study for quite some time. When he returned, he asked his parents to find him a religious scholar or any expert who could answer his 3 questions. Finally, his parents were able to find a Muslim scholar. Young man: Who are you? Can you answer my questions? Scholar: I am one of Allah (SubHana Wa Ta`ala )’s slaves and inshaAllah (God willing), I will be able to answer your questions. Young
Read moreMoulana Jalaluddin Rumi (R.A.) mentions in his Mathnavi, a story of Sultan Mahmood: One day the Sultan decided to test his ministers and ordered them to crush the most prized pearl of his treasury. One by one, each of 65 ministers declined, stating that the pearl was far too valuable to be destroyed. The King then summoned his closest and trusted courtier, Ayaaz, and ordered him to crush the pearl. Without any delay or hesitation, Ayaaz crushed the pearl into
Read moreA king was once passing along his way when he saw some animal droppings. And he saw some worms in those droppings. The thought came to his mind that there is no purpose behind the creation of these worms. They are useless, with no real job. Very soon thereafter he lost his eyesight. Being rich, he spent thousands of rands trying different treatments to restore his eyesight. All to no avail. Then it was mentioned to him that a certain
Read more“Anwaar-e-Suhaili is a well known Persian book. In it has been narrated a very thought provoking story: Once a man saw a crow whose wings were cut. He thought, “poor thing, how is it going to survive? From where shall it get its food?” Hardly a moment had passed when that person spotted an eagle carrying some prey in its beak. The eagle came closer, landed and fed the crow. On seeing this the man thought “ This is how
Read moreSammy was a good-looking young boy who lived in the deep south. His summer days were filled with times of walking through the woods, playing with friends, and fishing in the pond down the dirt road. Fishing was by far his favorite thing to do. Just about every day during his summer vacation, he would dig up some worms and head off, pole in hand, for a day of fishing. This steamy hot day was like most others during Sammy’s
Read moreA scholar of language and grammar undertook a journey. A river had to be crossed. As was the custom in those days, the scholar hired the boat of a waiting ferryman who took people across the river. During the journey, the scholar asked the ferryman, with obvious pride and mockery, if he knew anything about grammar and the rules of language. The ferryman simply replied, “I don’t.” “Alas!” retorted the rude scholar of grammar, “You have wasted half of your
Read moreThere lived in a town a very rich man, who was given every comfort and luxury by Allah. He had a servant who was slightly foolish. One day the rich man called him and presented him with a gift saying: “Keep this in a safe place until you find someone more foolish than yourself. When you do, give it to Him.” The servant replied: “Very good, Sir!” After some time, the rich man became very ill. Many doctors treated him
Read moreA little boy came up to his mother in the kitchen one evening while she was fixing supper, and he handed her a piece of paper that he had been writing on. After his mom dried her hands on an apron, she read it, and this is what it said: For cutting the grass: $5.00 For cleaning up my room this week: $1.00 For going to the store for you: $0.50 Babysitting my kid brother while you went shopping: $0.25
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