I attended Friday prayer at UWA last Friday. Was on my sick leave. Sh Faizel was giving the sermon and I quite like the simplicity of his sermon this time. He was talking about how strange a believer is, that everything happens may it be good or not to him is a blessing. He related this to a story about a Caliph and his advisor.
There was a day that the Caliph was with his advisor and something grateful befalls him and his advisor says Alhamdulillah. There was another day that he was wit his advisor and accidentally cut his hand and the advisor says Alhamdulillah too. Not knowing what the advisor meant, the Caliph was angry and ordered the advisor to be incarcerated. As per the usual custom of the rulers those days he was set for hunting only he found to be encountered by a group of people looking for a sacrifice for their God. The Caliph was captured to be presented as a sacrifice for their God. Just at the point before he was about to be sacrificed, they found that his hand had a bandage as a result of the cut he had earlier. As as sacrifice to their holy God, they have to present a perfect non-mutilated being. Hence, the Caliph was released.
With this occurrence, the Caliph now understand the wisdom of his advisor. He ordered that the advisor be released. The story did not end there. The advisor narrated that as he was dragged to the prison, he keep on reciting Alhamdulillah. Has he not been incarcerated, he would have followed the Caliph for hunting and would be a perfect sacrifice for the group in place for the Caliph. How strange is the believer, always feels grateful whatever befalls him!
As I was writing this, my chain of thought linked to another sermon I listened sometimes ago at Rivervale by Imam Jalil. He was talking about wisdom of words. He also narrated a story making it easy for me to remember.
There was a King and he had two interpreters for his dream. The King dreamt that he lost all of his teeth except one. He was worried and called one of his interpreter to see the insight of his dream. The interpreter said that all of his family members will die leaving him alone. Upon hearing this, the King was full of wrath and sent him to be beheaded. He called the second interpreter. Upon telling what he had dreamt, the interpreter said that among all of his family member he would be the longest to live. The King was glad and rewarded the interpreter with valuables.
Essentially, the gist of the interpretations are the same just the way it was described by words.
May we benefit from these two stories.
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