Story: Abdul Qadir Jilani and the Robbers
Abdul Qadir
Jilani was a youth with a strong
inclination for learning. His pious mother encouraged him to acquire knowledge.
At the age of eighteen he asked permission from his mother to travel to Baghdad
to pursue his education. Baghdad then was the hub of political, commercial and
cultural activity, and the centre of world learning. On hearing this, his
mother was more than happy to send her son off to follow the path of higher
scholarship. It was for such a purpose she had saved forty gold coins for Abdul
Qadir. As she prepared supplies for his journey she sewed the coins into the
lining of his coat for safekeeping.
Before
Abdul Qadir joined the caravan to travel to Baghdad, her parting advice to her
son was, “Whenever you speak, speak the truth. Remember that the Prophet
Muhammad (pbuh) said, ‘Truthfulness leads to righteousness and righteousness
leads to Paradise…’ and the Quran tells us “O you who believe! Be careful of
your duty to God, and be with the truthful.” (Quran 9:119).In
route to Baghdad the caravan was assaulted by a band of robbers. As the thugs
began to extract all the valuables from the travellers, one of the robbers
started to search Abdul Qadir’s belongings.
While
searching, the robber asked Abdul Qadir, “Do you have anything valuable?’Abdul
Qadir calmly replied, “Yes.”On hearing this the robber franticly searched
further but could not find anything. The robber took Abdul Qadir to his leader
and said, “This boy says he has valuables but I cannot find anything on him.”The
leader of the robbers asked Abdul Qadir, “Are you hiding any valuables?”Again
Abdul Qadir answered, “Yes.”The robber asked, “What are you hiding?”Abdul Qadir
replied, “Forty Gold Coins.”Upon further searching the robber discovered the
coins hidden in the lining of Abdul Qadir’s coat.
Among all
the chaos and panic stricken travelers Abdul Qadir’s courage and admitting the
valuables he was hiding was surprsing to the robber. The robber was now curious
to know more about this boy who was not afraid and insisted on speaking the
truth. The robber asked, “What is your name and where do you come from?” He got
a reply, “My name is Abdul Qadir and I come from the province of Jilan in
Persia.”“Where are you going?” “I am going to Baghdad.”“What do you plan to do
in Baghdad?”“I want to study with the greatest scholars to gain knowledge.”“Why
didn’t you hide the truth and keep your gold coins safe from us?”Abdul Qadir
related the advice his mother gave him and the directive of the Prophet and the
Quran to always speak the truth. On hearing this the robber was overcome with
remorse and exclaimed to his companions, “This young boy is fearless and has an
unshakable faith in God. He has the courage to stand up against people like us.
Indeed his mother has taught him wisely and he is a true example of being a
Muslim.”
Holding
his head in shame, tears started to roll down his face. He embraced Abdul Qadir
and as ked for his forgiveness. Abdul Qadir responded, “You only need to pray
to God and ask for forgiveness and guidance. God willing you will amend your
ways.”On hearing this, the leader of the robbers told his henchmen to return
everything that was taken from the travelers. Then he cried out, “O God this
young boy has shown us the straight path. Please forgive us and guide us to the
right way.”
This is
how a simple moral value of truthfulness taught by a mother to a young boy
affected a band of robbers to change their lives. Abdul Qadir Jilani went on to
become a great scholar and teacher of Islamic jurisprudence.
Moral lesson: Islam places a high value on
truthfulness. It is the foundation for a fair and just society. Truthfulness
and trustworthiness exemplify spiritual qualities without which individual or
social progress is not possible.
Story: An Honest Rickshaw puller
Abdur Rahim is a rickshaw puller. He is very poor.
Every day he has to work hard to maintain his family. One day while he was
pulling rickshaw, a gentle man got on his rickshaw. The man reached the
destination and paid him the fare. But at the time of putting his wallet into
his pocket, it dropped inside the rickshaw. The man went away.
Abdur Rahim wanted to take rest for
a while and went to a
quiet
place. Suddenly he saw a wallet on his rickshaw. He at once understood that the
wallet might be his previous passenger’s. He thought that the man was, no
doubt, to get into the office near the market. So,
Abdur Rahim ran to the office keeping his rickshaw before a shop, requesting
the shopkeeper to watch it. Then he looked for the man inside the office. But
he could not find him. The employees of the office said that none of them had
lost any wallet.
Being confused what to do, he took it to his
house. At home he opened the purse and found twenty thousand dollar inside the
purse. He showed his wife Jarina the purse. She told him to keep the money for them.
But the rickshaw puller did
not
agree with his wife. He wanted to find out the person who dropped the purse.
His wife insisted her husband for
keeping the money for themselves. She pointed out logically on behalf of using
the money for them. She even began to quarrel with her husband on the issue.
But the rickshaw puller was honest. He paid no heed to his wife's argument. He
thought if he returned the money to the owner of the purse, Allah would reward
him in the hereafter. So he looked for the owner of the wallet here and there.
He again and again went to that office near the market but in vain. But at last
one day the shop keeper in front of the office told him that a gentleman looked
for the lost wallet and was very upset because he could not buy medicine for
his mother. Hearing this, the rickshaw puller became restless and asked the shop
keeper for help. With his help eventually he found out the address of the owner
and returned the money to him.
The owner of the purse became very pleased. He
then seemed to be overwhelmed with the pleasure of getting back money. He expressed grateful to the rickshaw puller
and embraced him. He also rewarded him for his honesty.
Moral
teaching: Honesty is the best policy.
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