Mercy of Allah (swt)!
There was once a man who was going to travel to a dangerous land.
He goes to the house of a man, well known for his honesty. He knocks on the
door and tells him: “I’m giving you $1440 to keep with you as I am
travelling to a
dangerous place. When I get back, I only want $17 back.” The honest
man stood their perplexed but agreed.
The next day, the traveller comes back to the honest man’s house
and asks him for $17. The honest man tells him that he forgot and that
he had spent it all.
The traveller forgave him since he knew that this man is honest enough
to give it back later.
The next day, the same man travels to the same dangerous place and
gives the same honest man $1440 to keep and at the end of the day, he
will take $17 back. The traveller returns from his travels and asks
the honest man for his $17. The honest man replies that he was so
engrossed in having a good time with his friends, that he spent all
the money again. Once again, the traveller forgave him, knowing he
didn’t do it on purpose.
This same incident starts to happen everyday, whereby the honest
man is given $1440 and is expected to return only $17 but fails to do
so.
Later on, his child becomes sick and the doctor who was going to
give the treatment tells the honest man that if he wishes for his
child to be looked after, the fee was $1440. The honest man starts to
panic realising he can’t afford $1440. It then struck him that the
traveller used to give him that same amount.
He runs to the traveller’s house and asks him in a panic for $1440.
The traveller told him that due to his feeble excuses, he has stopped
going to his house as he has lost faith in his honesty.
The irony is, is that this story has once been directly relevant to
each and every single one of us. It is quite remarkable that Allah
(swt) gives us 1440 minutes each day and only specifies 17 minutes of
that back in prayer. But due to the ignorance of people and the
whisperings of Shaitaan the accursed, we are blinded towards the
minute scale of what we are giving back.
This story points out three things.
- The importance of Salah and how little we have to give back.
- The mercy of Allah that he forgives us even after such blunders.
- The fact that we only realise how important something is (in this
case gift of wealth) until it is gone.
–
The Prophet (PBUH) said, "He who removes from a believer one of his
difficulties of this world, Allah will remove one of his troubles on
the Day of Resurrection; and he who finds relief for a hard-pressed
person, Allah will make things easy for him on the Day of
Resurrection; he who covers up (the faults and sins) of a Muslim,
Allah will cover up (his faults and sins) in this world and in the
Hereafter. Allah supports His slave as long as the slave is supportive
of his brother; and he who treads the path in search of knowledge,
Allah makes that path easy, leading to Jannah for him; the people who
assemble in one of the houses of Allah, reciting the Book of Allah,
learning it and teaching, there descends upon them the tranquillity,
and mercy covers them, the angels flock around them, and Allah
mentions them in the presence of those near Him; and he who lags
behind in doing good deeds, his noble lineage will not make him go
ahead.‘’ [Muslim]