Anecdotes of Pious Men

The Prayer That Was Granted

"O God, Do not let me return to my family'." These were the words that Hind, the wife of Amr bin Jamuh, heard, from her husband when he left the house fully armed for participating in the battle of Uhud. It was his first time to fight alongwith the Muslims. He had not fought before as he was very lame, and according to the clear rule of the Qur'an Jihad (holy war against non-believers) is not incumbent upon those who are blind, lame or sick. Though he himself had not participated in Jihad but his four lion-hearted sons were always with the holy Prophet. Nobody had ever thought that Amr, inspite of his genuine excuse, and after sending four sons to Jihad, would want himself to be included among the soldiers of Islam.

When his relatives heard of his decision they came to persude him to change his mind. They said "First of all, you are exempted from Jihad, by rule

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of "Shariat" (divine law). Secondly, you have four brave sons who are going with the Prophet. So, there is no need for you to go yourself."

He replied: "As my sons want to get eternal bliss and paradise, I too have the same desire. Will it not be strange if they go and achieve martyrdom while I sit in the house with you. No, it is not possible"

His relatives did not accept his views; and one after another came to him to persuade him. At last, he appealed to the Prophet: "O Prophet of God! My relatives want to con- fine me in the house. They are not allowing me to participate in Jihad. By God it is my wish to go to paradise with this lame leg"

"O Amir! After all, you have a genuine ex- cuse. God has exempted you. Jihad is not incum- bent on you" "O Prophet of God! I am aware of that. I know it is not incumbent upon me; even then........."

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The Prophet said: "Do not forbid him from Jihad. Let him go. Since he has a desire for attain- ing martyrdom, God may bless him with it."

One of the most spectacular scenes of the battle-field of Uhud was the fighting of Amr bin Jamuh, who with his limping leg was attacking the centre of the enemy's army and was shouting, "I have the desire of paradise'." One of his sons was moving behind him. They fought gallantly till both were killed.

After the war ended, many Muslim women came out of Medina for getting correct news of the whole affair. They were anxious specially in view of the frightening news which had reached the city. Aysha, wife of the Prophet was one of them. When she came out of the city she saw Hind pulling the rein of a camel with three dead bodies on its back. Aysha asked:

"What is the news?"

"Thank God, the Prophet is safe. As he is

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safe, I have no worries. The other news is that God has made the non-believers suffer a reverse with sorrow."

"Whose corpses are these?"

"They are my brother, my son and my hus- band."

"Where are you taking them?"

"I am taking them to Medina for burial."

Saying this, Hind pulled the rein of the camel towards Medina. But the animal seemed unwilling to proceed and finally sat down. Aysha said: "The load seems heavy; he can't carry it" "No. This camel of ours is very strong and usually carries the load of two camels. There must be some other reason."

Saying this she pulled the rein towards Medina; again the camel sat down. When she turned the camel towards Uhud, to her surprise the animal started walking quickly.

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The situation was strange. She thought, "per- haps there is some mystery in it'." She then turned the animal towards Uhud and went streight to the Prophet:

"O Prophet of God! There is a strange story here. I placed these corpses to take them to Medina to bury them. When I pull the rein towards Medina, the animal refuses to obey me. But when I direct him to Uhud, he walks quickly."

"Did your husband say anything while coming to Uhud?"

"O Prophet of God! When he left the house, I heard him saying: `O God, Do not let me return to my family."

"Then this is the reason. The sincere prayer of this martyre has been granted. God does not want this corpse to return. There are men among you, Helpers of the Prophet, who if they ask any- thing from God, the Almighty God grants their wishes. Your husband was one of them."

On the advice of the Prophet, these men were buried in Uhud. Then, the Prophet turned to Hind and said:

"These men shall be together in that world" "O Prophet of God! Pray to Almighty to keep me also with them:"

The Right Of Companionship

In those days, Kufa was the Capital and Centre of the Islamic Government. All eyes of the vast and wide Muslim nation (with the exception of Syria) were fixed at this city waiting as to what orders were being issued and what decisions taken.

Outside the City two gentlemen, a Muslim and the other from People of the Book (Jew, Christian or Zoroastrian) met on the road one day. The Mus lim was going to Kufa and the other gentlemen to another place nearby. Since a part of their jour- ney was common, they decided to travel together.

On the way, they talked and talked on various topics of mutual interest and ultimately arrived at the point where their paths separated. The non- Muslim was surprised to see that his Muslim com- panion did not take the path leading to Kufa but accompanied him on the other path, where he was going. He asked:

"Well, didn't you say you were going to Kufa?" "Yes" "Then why are you coming this way? The other one is the path to Kufa'."

"1 know. I want to walk a few steps with you to see you off. Because our Prophet has said,

` Whenever two persons travel together on the same path, they establish reciprocal rights upon each other. Now you have got a right upon me and for the sake of that right of yours I wish to walk a few steps with you, and then, of course, I shall return unto my own path." "Oh! Such an authority and power which is weilded among people in such a perfect way by your Prophet, and the amazing speed with which his religion has spread in the world, must be, I am sure, because of his such noble character."

The surprise and admiration of this gentlemen reached its peak when he learnt afterwards that his Muslim friend was Ali bin Abi-Talib, the Caliph of that time. Soonafter he embraced Islam and was

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counted among the most devout and selfsacrificing companions of Ali.

THE BLACK MARKET

The dependants of Imam Ja'afer Sadiq (a.s.) had increased in number; so had his expenses. The I mam decided to invest some money in trade to meet the increased expenses of the house. He arranged for an amount of thousand Dinars which he gave to his slave named 'Musadif' directing him to proceed to Egypt and to invest the amount in business on behalf of Imam.

Musadif purchased some goods usually ex- ported to Egypt, and joined a Caravan of traders, who were taking the same type of merchandise to Egypt.

When they reached near Egypt, they met another Caravan coming out of the City. They en- quired about each other's affairs. During the course of conversation, they learnt that the goods which Musadif and his friends were carrying were not available in Egypt and were in great demand

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there. They became very happy at their good for- tune. Indeed that was an article of common use and people had to buy it at all costs. The traders on hearing the good news decided to exploit the situation. They agreed together not to sell the goods at less than hundred percent pro- fit.

They entered the city. The situation was same as they had been told. As previously agreed, they created a black market, and did not sell the goods at less than double the cost.

Musadif returned to Medina with a net profit of one thousand Dinars. Happy as he was he went to Imam Sadiq, and placed before him two bags, each containing one thousand Dinars. The Imam asked "What is this?"

"One of the two bags represents the capital

you gave me, and the other one (which is equal to the capital) is the profit I have made" "Certainly the profit is unexpectedly high. Tell me how could you make so much profit?" "The fact is when we learnt near Egypt that the merchandise we were carrying had become scarce there, we agreed not to sell the goods at less than double the cost; and we did accordingly'." "Glory be to God! You did such a work! You took oath to create a black market among the Mus- lims! You swore not to sell the goods at less than double the actual cost! No. I don't want such busi- ness and such profit'."

Then picking up one of the bags, he said, "This is my capital." He did not even touch the other one, and said that he did not want to have any connection with that.

Then he said:

"O Musadif! It is easier to fight with a sword than to earn the livelihood lawfully."