This is a beautiful story which goes to show a glimpse of the beauty of Islam.
Taher(my hubby) prays at a mosque every night at 1am.,these are special prayers performed especially in Ramadan.During one of these prayer sessions Taher happened to notice a blind,frail,old man praying beside him,Taher offered him a chair and the old man thanked Taher and sat and prayed till the end.
After the prayers Taher stepped out of the mosque and proceeded to give alms to the poor waiting outside and found the blind old man among the beggars.Taher was a bit shocked to see the old man begging because he was neatly dressed and appeared clean,but then in Islam one cannot stand in prayer unclean,cannot be causing inconvenience to others.Then Taher gave him some money and returned home.
The next day too the old man stood in prayer in Taher's row and Taher fetched him a chair again and since the prayers are long,there's a break in between,during the break Taher and the old man chatted about the rains,the government,grave sins etc.,just small talk....when the prayer didn't resume even after a while the old man took a watch out from his pocket,Taher was taken aback upon seeing the watch,he thought to himself that the old man must've fooled him,maybe the old man could see but was pretending to be blind for alms.While Taher was still processing this in his head,the old man pressed a button on his watch and the watch told the time out loud.....Taher was relieved to know that the old man was not fooling him,he was blind afterall.Taher enquired about the watch and learnt that it was gifted to the old man two years ago by another person he met in the same mosque.
Taher is going to the mosque still but the old man doesn't wait in a line to get alms from him and Taher still fetches him the chair.When Taher told me about the old man,his watch and their chats i couldn't help crying at their bonding over prayers,these two couldn't have met elsewhere.
Such a beautiful thing,that in prayer all stand in the same row,Allah doesn't discriminate between the rich and poor.Islam preaches charity to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.It's obligatory upon Muslims to give away a certain percentage of our profits to our poor brothers,infact fasting in Ramadan is more about understanding the conditions of our poor brothers and sisters who have no food to eat or water to drink,fasting makes us humbly aware of the plight of someone who hasn't had a proper meal.It makes us realise the wrong in wasting food and indulging in gluttony.When we learn that we can live on less food we consume less,hence there's more food to go around.
Interests on Principal amounts while borrowing money is unacceptable in Islam because of the very reason that the poor(borrower) gets poorer with each passing month and the rich(lender) gets richer,this increases gap between the two,hence.
It's also obligatory upon Muslims to see to the well being of our neighbours and be there for them,always,see if they have food on their table today.
Islam preaches equality and emphasises on the fact that in order to keep the world running smoothly we all need to realise that all have major roles to play,the world needs balance between riches to function properly.
Contrary to the belief that women are oppressed in Islam,there are rights only women in Islam enjoy,here again Islam preaches that both the man and woman have equally important roles to play to run the family smoothly.
Taher(my hubby) prays at a mosque every night at 1am.,these are special prayers performed especially in Ramadan.During one of these prayer sessions Taher happened to notice a blind,frail,old man praying beside him,Taher offered him a chair and the old man thanked Taher and sat and prayed till the end.
After the prayers Taher stepped out of the mosque and proceeded to give alms to the poor waiting outside and found the blind old man among the beggars.Taher was a bit shocked to see the old man begging because he was neatly dressed and appeared clean,but then in Islam one cannot stand in prayer unclean,cannot be causing inconvenience to others.Then Taher gave him some money and returned home.
The next day too the old man stood in prayer in Taher's row and Taher fetched him a chair again and since the prayers are long,there's a break in between,during the break Taher and the old man chatted about the rains,the government,grave sins etc.,just small talk....when the prayer didn't resume even after a while the old man took a watch out from his pocket,Taher was taken aback upon seeing the watch,he thought to himself that the old man must've fooled him,maybe the old man could see but was pretending to be blind for alms.While Taher was still processing this in his head,the old man pressed a button on his watch and the watch told the time out loud.....Taher was relieved to know that the old man was not fooling him,he was blind afterall.Taher enquired about the watch and learnt that it was gifted to the old man two years ago by another person he met in the same mosque.
Taher is going to the mosque still but the old man doesn't wait in a line to get alms from him and Taher still fetches him the chair.When Taher told me about the old man,his watch and their chats i couldn't help crying at their bonding over prayers,these two couldn't have met elsewhere.
Such a beautiful thing,that in prayer all stand in the same row,Allah doesn't discriminate between the rich and poor.Islam preaches charity to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor.It's obligatory upon Muslims to give away a certain percentage of our profits to our poor brothers,infact fasting in Ramadan is more about understanding the conditions of our poor brothers and sisters who have no food to eat or water to drink,fasting makes us humbly aware of the plight of someone who hasn't had a proper meal.It makes us realise the wrong in wasting food and indulging in gluttony.When we learn that we can live on less food we consume less,hence there's more food to go around.
Interests on Principal amounts while borrowing money is unacceptable in Islam because of the very reason that the poor(borrower) gets poorer with each passing month and the rich(lender) gets richer,this increases gap between the two,hence.
It's also obligatory upon Muslims to see to the well being of our neighbours and be there for them,always,see if they have food on their table today.
Islam preaches equality and emphasises on the fact that in order to keep the world running smoothly we all need to realise that all have major roles to play,the world needs balance between riches to function properly.
Contrary to the belief that women are oppressed in Islam,there are rights only women in Islam enjoy,here again Islam preaches that both the man and woman have equally important roles to play to run the family smoothly.
So many more beautiful things Islam is about.This was just a glimpse of the beauty of Islam.Islam is beautiful,perfect,flawless,but i can't say the same about Muslims.That's what we have to do,become perfect Muslims,strive towards being the perfect Muslim.This should be my ultimate goal.I'm working on that, i know it might take forever, for now I feel blessed and honoured and proud to be a Muslim,i hope this joy everyone gets to know,Ameen. pic.courtesy:www.nocompulsion.com