Anything for Allah

Anything for Allah

Khabaab (Radiallaho Anho) is one of those fortunate persons who offered themselves for sacrifice and suffering for the cause of Allah (Subhanahu wa Taala). He was the sixth or seventh person to embrace Islam and therefore, he suffered long. He was made to put on steel armor and lie in the sun to sweat. Very often he was made to lie flat on burning sand, which caused the flesh on his back to dissolve. He was the slave of a woman. When she came to know that he was visiting Rasulullah (Sallallaho Alaihi Wassallam), she used to brand his head with a hot iron rod. Umar (Radiallaho Anho) during his Caliph once asked him about the details of his suffering after embracing Islam.

He showed him his back, seeing which Umar (Radiallaho Anho) said, "I have never seen such a back before."

He said, "My body was dragged over heaps of burning coal and the blood and fat coming out of my back put out the fire."

When Islam spread and the Muslims conquered all the surrounding territory, he used to weep and say, "Allah (Subhanahu wa Taala) seems to be compensating us in this world for all our sufferings and perhaps nothing would be left for us as reward in the Akhirah".

Source: From the Book "Stories of the Sahabah" by Shaikh Muhammad Zakariyya Kandhalvi.

Such were the followers of the Prophet (peace be upon him) who were ready to give anything but their faith in Allah. On the other hand, we Muslims today are ready to sell our iman for little material gains!

Prayer of a Sick Person

Prayer of a Sick Person

Imam Baihaqi has stated on the authority of Hadhrat Ali (ra) who stated: "Once, I was resent with the Prophet (peace be upon him). At that time, I had fallen so much sick that I prayed to Allah Almighty to grant me death if I am destined to die so that I may get relief from the sickness, otherwise, I may be restored to normal health from the sickness if I have to live for sometime. I, also, prayed for being granted patience if this sickness is a test for me from Allah Almighty." Hearing that, the Prophet beat Ali with his foot and observed: "Oh Ali! repeat what you were saying." Ali (ra) repeated his prayer. Then the Prophet prayed to Allah Almighty: "O Allah! Heal him from the sickness." Ali (ra) stated that he became healthy the same day and the pain never appeared again.

Source: From the book "The Miracles of the Prophet Muhammad" by Shaikh Ahmed Saeed Dehalvi.

The Carpenter

The Carpenter

A highly skilled carpenter who had grown old was ready to retire. He told his employer-contractor of his plans to leave the house building business and live a more leisurely life with his family. He would miss the paycheck, but he needed to retire.

The employer was sorry to see his good worker go and asked if he could build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter agreed to this proposal but made sure that this will be his last project. Being in a mood to retire, the carpenter was not paying much attention to building this house. His heart was not in his work. He resorted to poor workmanship and used inferior materials. It was an unfortunate way to end his career.

When the job was done, the carpenter called his employer and showed him the house. The employer handed over some papers and the front door key to the carpenter and said "This is your house, my gift to you."

The carpenter was in a shock! What a shame! If he had only known that he was building his own house, he would have made it better than any other house that he ever built!

Our situation can be compared to this carpenter. Allah Ta'la has sent us to this world to build our homes in paradise by obeying His commands. Now, we have to decide how well we wish to build the homes where we will live forever.