Real Life)
- Once upon a time. There was a rich merchant whohad four (4) wives.
He loved the 4th wife the most and adorned her with rich robes and
treated her to delicacies. He took great care of her and gave her
nothing butthe best.
He also loved the 3rd wife very much. He's veryproud of her and always
wanted to show off her to his friends. However, the merchant is always
ingreat fear that she might run away with some other men.
He too, loved his 2nd wife. She is a very considerate person, always
patient and in fact is the merchant's confidante. Whenever the
merchant faced someproblems, he always turned to his 2nd wife and she
would always help him out and tide him through difficult times.
Now, the merchant's 1st wife is a very loyal partner and has made
great contributions in maintaining his wealth and business as well as
taking care of the household. However, the merchant did not love the
first wife and although she loved him deeply, he hardly took notice of
her.
One day, the merchant fell ill. Before long, he knew that he was going
to die soon. He thought of his luxurious life and told himself, "Now I
have 4 wives with me. But when I die, I'll be alone. How lonely I'll
be!" Thus, he asked the 4th wife, "I loved you most, endowed you with
the finest clothing and showered great care over you. Now that I'm
dying, will you follow meand keep me company?"
"No way!" replied the 4thwife and she walked away without another word.
The answer cut like a sharp knife right into themerchant's heart.
The sad merchant then asked the 3rd wife, "I have loved you so much
for all my life. Now that I'm dying, will you followme and keep me
company?"
"No!" replied the 3rd wife. "Life is so good over here! I'm going to
remarry when you die!" The merchant's heart sank and turned cold.
He then asked the 2nd wife, "I always turned to you for help and
you've always helped me out. Now I need your help again. When I die,
will you follow me and keep me company?" "I'm sorry,I can't help you
out this time!" replied the 2nd wife. "At the very most, I can only
send you to yourgrave." The answer came like a bolt of thunder andthe
merchant was devastated.
Then a voice called out:"I'll leave with you. I'll follow you no
matter where you go." The merchant looked up and there was his first
wife. She was so skinny, almostlike she suffered from malnutrition.
Greatly grieved, the merchant said, "I should have taken much better
care of you while I could have!"
Actually, we all have 4 wives in our lives. The 4th wife is our body.
No matter how much time and effort we lavish in making it look good,
it'll leave us when we die.
Our 3rd wife is our possessions, status and wealth. When we die, they
all go to others.
The 2nd wife is our family and friends. No matter how close they had
been there for us when we're alive, the furthest they can stay by us
is up to the grave.
The 1st wife is in fact our soul, often neglected in our pursuit of
material wealth and sensual pleasure.
Guess what? It is actually the only thing that follows us wherever we
go. Perhaps it's a good idea to cultivate and strengthen it now rather
than to wait until we're on our deathbed to lament.
Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) and Anecdote about Three Friends/
2. Four Wives Story: Why a Woman can't marry morethan one Husband?
- In a delightful report about how Imam Abu Hanifa received his name
(his original name was Numan bin Thabit bin Zuta bin Mah), an account
of why the wife is forbidden to take morethan one husband is
recounted. 'Abu Hanifa' isan unusual name because it means 'the father
of Hanifah', and Hanifah was his daughter. It was not the custom in
those days to do this. Normally, the name would be 'the father of the
name of a son.' How this came about is quite edifying.
One day Imam Abu Hanifawas asked a question that, for the first time
in his illustrious career, he was unable to answer. The question was,
" Why were women forbidden to marry more than one husband at a time? "
To make a long story short, Abu Hanifa's daughter said that she knew
the answer and would solve this questionif her father would make a
promise to her that if she succeeded in solving this problem, he would
then assure her a place inhistory. Abu Hanifa agreed.
So she gathered a group of women together and gave each of them a cup.
Then she brought in a large bowl of milk and asked each of them to dip
their cups in the milk and to fill their cups. They did so. She then
asked them to pour back the milk into the bowl. They did this too. She
then asked them to re-filltheir cups taking back only their own milk
that they had poured into the bowl.
This, obviously, was impossible to do. Hanifahhad clearly
demonstratedthe kind of predicament that would be created if a woman
had several husbands. With more than one husband, if she were to
become pregnant, she would have exceptional difficulties determining
who the actual father was? Identifying parentage and lineage would
then be insurmountable for the offspring. Imam Abu Hanifa was so
pleased with her answer that he took the name 'Abu Hanifa', 'the
father of Hanifah', so his daughter did indeed earn a place in
history./
3. Wonderful Stories of Islam: Be careful what you Plant (Anecdote
Illustrating Real Life)
-An emperor in the Far East was growing old andknew it was time to
choose his successor. Instead of choosing one of his assistants or his
children, he decided something different. He called young people in
the kingdom together one day. He said, "It is time for me to step
downand choose the next emperor. I have decided to choose one of you."
The kids were shocked! But the emperor continued. "I am going togive
each one of you a seed today. One very special seed. I want you to
plant the seed, water it and come back here after one year from today
with what you have grown from this one seed. I will then judge the
plants that you bring, and the one I choose will be the next emperor!"
One boy named Ling was there that day and he, like the others,
received a seed. He went home and excitedly told his mother the story.
She helped him get a pot andplanting soil, and he planted the seed and
watered it carefully. Every day he would water it and watch to seeif
it had grown. After about three weeks, some of the other youths began
to talk about their seeds and the plants that were beginning to grow.
Ling kept checking his seed, but nothing ever grew. 3 weeks, 4 weeks,
5 weeks went by. Still nothing. By now, others were talking about
their plants but Ling didn't have a plant, and he felt like a failure.
Six months went by, still nothing in Ling's pot. He just knew he had
killed his seed.
Everyone else had trees and tall plants, but he had nothing. Ling
didn't say anything to his friends, however. He just kept waiting for
his seed to grow.
A year finally went by and all the youths of the kingdom brought their
plants to the emperor forinspection. Ling told his mother that he
wasn't going to take an empty pot. But honest about what happened,
Ling felt sick to his stomach, but he knew his mother was right. He
took his empty pot to the palace. When Ling arrived, he was amazed at
the variety of plants grown by the other youths. They were beautiful
in all shapes and sizes. Ling put his empty pot on the floor and many
of the other kinds laughed at him. A few felt sorry for him andjust
said, "Hey nice try."
When the emperor arrived, he surveyed the room and greeted the young
people. Ling just tried to hide in the back."What great plants, trees
and flowers you have grown," said the emperor. "Today, one of you will
be appointed the next emperor!" All of a sudden, the emperor spotted
Ling at the back of the room with his empty pot. He ordered his guards
to bring him to the front. Ling was terrified. "The emperor knows I'm
a failure! Maybe he will have me killed!"
When Ling got to the front, the Emperor asked his name. "My name is
Ling," he replied. All the kids were laughing and making fun of him.
The emperor asked everyone to quiet down. He lookedat Ling, and then
announced to the crowd,"Behold your new emperor! His name is Ling!"
Ling couldn't believe it. Ling couldn't even grow his seed. How could
he be the new emperor? Then the emperor said, "One year ago today, I
gave everyone here a seed. I told you to take the seed,plant it, water
it, and bring it back to me today. But I gave you all boiled seeds,
which would not grow. All of you, except Ling, have brought me trees
and plants and flowers. Whenyou found that the seed would not grow,
you substituted another seed for the one I gave you. Ling was the only
one with the courage and honesty to bring me a pot with my seed in it.
Therefore, he is the one who will be the new emperor!"
If you plant honesty , you will reap trust.
If you plant goodness, you will reap friends.
If you plant humility, you will reap greatness.
If you plant perseverance , you will reap victory.
If you plant consideration, you will reap harmony.
If you plant hard work, you will reap success.
If you plant forgiveness , you will reap reconciliation.
If you plant openness, you will reap intimacy.
If you plant patience, youwill reap improvements.
If you plant faith, you willreap miracles.
But
If you plant dishonesty, you will reap distrust.
If you plant selfishness, you will reap loneliness.
If you plant pride, you will reap destruction.
If you plant envy, you willreap trouble.
If you plant laziness, you will reap stagnation.
If you plant bitterness, you will reap isolation.
If you plant greed, you will reap loss.
If you plant gossip, you will reap enemies.
If you plant worries, you will reap wrinkles.
If you plant sin, you will reap guilt.
So be careful what you plant now, It will determine what you will reap
tomorrow, The seeds you now scatter, Will make life worse or better,
your life or the ones who will come after. Yes, someday, you will
enjoy the fruits, or you will pay for the choices you plant today.
Honesty in Islam/
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