An incident of Patience.

An incident of Patience.

The following incident should be a good lesson in Sabr (patience).

Once there was seen a woman of exceptional beauty making Tawaaf of the Ka'bah. Her beauty compelled people to exclaim that she lit up the world with Her beauty. Someone commented: "Unitl today never was such a beautiful woman seen. Perhaps her beauty is because she has no worry." When the woman heard this, she said: "What have you said? I am overwhelmed with grief. My heart is stricken with sadness. There is no one to share my grief with me." She narrated her heart-rendering story as follows:-

"My husband slaughtered a goat for Qurbani. (?) My two young sons were playing nearby. The third child, an infant was in my lap. I went to prepare the food. The elder of the two sons said to His younger brother: "Come, I shall show you what Father did with the goat." The younger son happily agreed. The elder son then slaughtered the younger one. When he realised what he had done, He fled into the mountain where a wolf caught and ate) Him. His father who went out in His search was lost in the wilderness. Finally he died of thirst. Meanwhile, when there was a long delay and threatening silence, I went out to investigate. the infant in my absence pulled the pot from the fire. The boiling contents spilled over killed the baby. After some time when all this heart-breaking news reached my eldest daughter who was married, she suffered a severe shock and died. Now I am left alone to vear all this grief."

This story appears also in 'Stories of the Pious' by Shaykh Ahmad Ali [db]. The name of the person who asked her this question was Shaykh Abul Hasan Siraj [ra].