The King and his friend

Red Flower · #1 Saturday, September 19, 2009

The King and his friend

A story is told about a King in Africa who had a close friend that he grew up with. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) by saying

“Alhamdulillah” (All praise is due to Allah)

One day the King and his Friend were out on a hunting expedition. The Friend would load and prepare the guns for the King. The Friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking the gun from his Friend, the King fired it and his thumb was blown off.

“But you may hate a thing although it is good for you, and may love a thing although it is evil for you. Allah knows, and you do not.” (Baqarah)2:216

Examining the situation the Friend remarked as usual,

“Alhamdulillah” (All praise is due to Allah)

To which the King replied, “No, this is NOT good!” and ordered his soldiers to put his Friend into jail.

A few months later, the King was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. A native tribe captured the King and took him to their village. They tied him up and brought him to their altar, for sacrifice to their gods.

The tribe shaman came to inspect the body, he noticed that the King was missing a thumb. The shaman was in an uproar. He said the sacrifice must be perfect, the gods will be furious with us if we submitted one who is imperfect. They quickly untied him and chased him away in fear that he would bring bad luck.

When the King reached his Palace, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his Friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his Friend.

“You were right” the King said. “it was good that my thumb was blown off.” And he proceeded to tell all that just happened. “I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this.”

His Friend replied “Alhamdulillah” (All praise is due to Allah)

“What do you mean, “Alhamdulillah!”(All praise is due to Allah) How could you be grateful that I sent my Friend to jail for a few months?”

The King’s friend replied: “Remember that the Almighty knows best and if I had NOT been in jail, I would have been with you(on this hunting trip).”

Suhayb (rA) said: The Messenger of Allah (s) said: “How wonderful is the affair of the believer, for his affairs are all good, and this applies to no one but the believer. If something good happens to him, he is thankful for it and that is good for him. If something bad happens to him, he bears it with patience and that is good for him” (Muslim).

The Following User Says Thank You to Red Flower For This Useful Post:
Muhammad T S Awan (Saturday, September 19, 2009)