From the Original Arabic Piece by Adel bin Muhammad al-Abdul 'Aalee
Translated by Abu Dujanah
One of the Salaf entered a field, hungry and tired, so he wanted to eat, and his stomach was 'rumbling'. He saw an apple tree, and picked an apple to eat. He ate half of it under the protection of Allah, then he drank from the river near the field. After that, he suddenly realised that he was not aware of what he did due to his hunger, and thought to himself: Woe to you! How can you eat someone else's provision without permission. In remorse he was determined not to leave the place until he found the owner of the garden, and confess to him that he had eaten his provision without his permission. He looked around and saw a house and went up to the door and knocked on it.
The owner came out and asked him what he wanted. The Salaf said: "I was hungry and entered your garden and took this apple and ate half of it, then I remembered it was not mine, and I came to beg you to forgive me for this mistake."
The man replied, "I will not forgive you except on one condition?"
So the Salaf asked (and he is Thaabit bin Nu'maan), "What is your condition?"
The owner of the garden said: "I want you to marry my daughter."
The honourable Salaf without hesitation said: "yes, I will marry her".
The father of the girl then said: "I want you to know that my daughter is blind and cannot see, dumb and cannot speak, deaf and cannot hear."
The revelation shocked Thaabit bin Nu'maan and thoughts flashed through his mind - what a disaster - what's he going to do? Then he remembered that the trials and tribulation he has to endure by accepting this woman as his wife, and taking care of her and serving her is better for him than to eat the food (sadeed) of hellfire due to the fact that he had eaten the apple without permission. He also realised that if he did not make amends, his days in the dunya are numbered. So he promised to marry the girl, and prayed for forgiveness and reward from Allah, the Lord of the Worlds.
The day of marriage came, and the man was nervous and very worried: "How will I enter upon a woman who does not speak, see, or hear?!" What a dilemma, and he wished the earth would swallow him before that happened (i.e. going the wedding ceremony), but he remembered Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala and said: "Laa Hawla wa laa quwata illa billah, wa inna lilah wa inna ilayhi raji'oon."
He went off to the wedding ceremony and when he arrived, his future bride stood up and greeted him, saying, "Assalamu 'alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuhu." When he saw her, it took his breath away and remembered what he had imagined of the hoor il-'ayn in paradise. Gaining his composure, he blurted out: "What is this? So you speak, see, and hear." Thaabit bin Nu'maan then informed her what her father had to told him.
She gave him the most beautiful smile and said: "My father spoke the truth and he didn't lie."
"But why did he tell me things about you which are untrue?
She replied, "My father said I am dumb, because I have never said a word which displeases Allah, nor have I ever spoken to a man whom it is not permissable to speak to. [He said] I am deaf, because I have never sat it in a place where malicious backbiting, gossip or tale-telling takes place. [He said] I am blind because I have never looked at a man who was not permissable for me to look."
So ponder how Allah Subhanahu wa Ta'ala united this pious woman to this pious man.
“The believers in their mutual kindness, compassion and sympathy are just like one body. When one of the limbs is afflicted, the whole body responds to it with sleeplessness and fever”.
A precious story and a great reminder, and Jazakallahu Khaayr for sharing
"Allah! La ilaha illa Huwa (none has the right to be worshipped but He), Al-Hayyul-Qayyum (the Ever Living, the One Who sustains and protects all that exists).".."[Al Qur'aan 3:2]
It is very insulting to people who are literally blind, deaf, dumb or all three. It suggests they're undesirable and unwanted.
Regardless of anything, if most people were to be told that their future spouse is going to be deaf, dumb and blind, they would have a hard time dealing with/coming to grips with it. That's normal and that's what happened to the person in the story (and we have to keep in mind, it's supposedly a true story, i.e. it's not an allegorical masterpeice aimed at ridiculing the existence of disabled people).
It only insults blind, deaf or dumb people if that is what you read into it yourself and that is your own error.
Maybe normal for some people. It certainly didn't come across as normal to me.
Besides it wasn't so much the shock that I found disgusting. It was how the guy was portrayed as being repulsed by the idea of having such a wife and all "poor me" for getting into that situation.
And if it was a true story, I was totally unaware.
Well, no need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Try to seperate the rhetorical language from the facts. For example, the bit in bold:
"The revelation shocked Thaabit bin Nu'maan and thoughts flashed through his mind - what a disaster - what's he going to do?"
Is from the writer's perspective and we can't know what the mentioned person (Allah have mercy on him) really thought at the time.
Maybe normal for some people. It certainly didn't come across as normal to me.
Are you seriously saying that if someone came to you out of the blue and told you that the person you were going to marry and spend the rest of your life with will be deaf, dumb and blind and you'd not even in the least feel 'shocked'? If that's the case, I salute you. You're one in a million. The rest of us, aren't as perfect unfortunately.
Anwyay, let's concentrate more on the point the article is trying to make (i.e. God consciousness) rather than focussing on side issues. As they say, 'take the good and leave the bad'.
as a minor-or major?-point, eating half an apple from an orchard full of fruit bearing trees while one is so hungry so as to not even realize it was someone's property/provision falls under the rule of extreme necessity allowing-some of-that which is forbidden. sotry's a stretch is what I want to say, and marrying off his blind, deaf And dumb daughter to the first guy who eats half an apple form his garden hardly seems to be setting a good example, whatever the intentions of the rest of the story...
and marrying off his blind, deaf And dumb daughter to the first guy who eats half an apple form his garden hardly seems to be setting a good example, whatever the intentions of the rest of the story...
The way I understood it, it was the very fact that the man felt guilty over just half an apple which showed his piety and righteousness. If he was guilty over something so small, imagine how much more he would stay away from major errors. So perhaps the father of the girl recognised this and saw good in the man... Allaah (swt) knows best.
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What a beautiful story mashaa Allaah, jazakallahu khairun for sharing akhi.
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