A short story on trusting God and being patient


Let me share a short story that I heard from a shaykh.

There was a king who had a very wise man as his most trusted minister. The minister had a positive attitude on everything believing that there is always something better (khayr) at the end of all troubles that we go through.

One day the king lost his finger in an accident, which made him very sad. When he complained to his minister the latter advised the king to be patient and told him that ‘maybe there is some khayr in this trouble that you faced; be patient.’ The king was very irritated by the comment of his minister and put him into prison. When the minister was led to the prison, he said, ‘May be there is some good that is in store for me.’

Within few days, the king, accompanied by his retinue, went on a hunting trip. In the thick of the forest, he got separated from his guards and others that accompanied him. He soon found him surrounded by a group of bandits who were mushriqs (idolaters). They were into human sacrifice that required them to slaughter a perfect human being without any physical imperfection in front of their idol. The captured king was brought to the slaughter place for their ritual slaughter. But when they noticed that the king was missing a finger, deemed, thus, physically imperfect, they set him free. The king found his way back to his castle and pondered about what had just happened. Had he not lost the finger, he would have been slaughtered by the idolaters. Thanks Allah that he lost that finger, thus enabling him to escape from death in the hands of the idolaters. He quickly remembered the wise sayings of his trusted minister. He was repentant and released him from prison. He then asked his minister, “I can surely understand the wisdom in your saying about my lost finger. But I don’t understand why you said that it was good for you when you were imprisoned?”

The wise minister said, “O king! If I were not put in the prison, I would have been with you in your hunting trip and would have been captured with you. Seeing that you are physically imperfect those bandits would have slaughtered me instead. That is why my imprisonment, which appeared to be apparently bad was, in reality, a very good thing for me, as it was for you when you had lost your finger. Allah had a better plan for both of us! Thanks to Allah for saving us both.”

It is difficult to see the future in the midst of immediate troubles that we often face. But we should never lose hope in Allah that He has stored something better for us. As we face troubles in our world that is seemingly becoming more hostile, may Allah put enough patience in this community of ours. Amin. 
[Interested readers may like to read my book - Devotional Stories, pub. A.S. Noordeen, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - for many such stories.]

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