To Read or To Understand...
We come across some nice anecdotes, or kisse, as we’d call them in Urdu, in our day to day lives. Sometimes in the movies also.
Here are some of my favourites...
Two labourers were sitting when a man approached them and said he’d give them two Dinars per day if they worked for him. They refused. So the man raised his offer to four Dinars. But they still refused. The man raised his offer to six, eight, finally ten Dinars, but the men still refused. Astonished, this man asks them why in the world are they refusing such a lucrative offer?
And the men reply, “we’ll only work for you if you pay us one Dinar a day”.
That was what their one day’s labour was worth...
There’s a hadith i recollect that was told to me by a friend of mine once. It goes something like once a man came to our Prophet (peace be upon him), and told him that there was no blessing (barkat) in his earnings. The Prophet (peace be upon him) asked him how much he charged for his services and told him that he was charging too much for the work he was doing, and that he should charge less. Still the man complained of his earnings not being blessed, and again the Prophet (peace be upon him) told him to charge lesser still. Finally after the third time the man said that now his earnings were beginning to have barkat.
The next one is about Sikandar, or Alexander the Great. Well, this dude Alex was returning from his defeat in India, and he was sick and dying, so he called vizier, and told him that when he dies and they’re taking out his funeral procession, they should take out one of his dead hands from the shroud and let it hang free.
The vizier said that it was not a wise decision, as the people would say that the ruler of seven kingdoms and seven rivers was, even at his death, still hungry to grab more...
Then Alexander replied, no, let them see that even the ruler of seven kingdoms and seven rivers and the greatest conquerer in the world was going empty handed in his death...
True or not? Who cares!
Here are some of my favourites...
Two labourers were sitting when a man approached them and said he’d give them two Dinars per day if they worked for him. They refused. So the man raised his offer to four Dinars. But they still refused. The man raised his offer to six, eight, finally ten Dinars, but the men still refused. Astonished, this man asks them why in the world are they refusing such a lucrative offer?
And the men reply, “we’ll only work for you if you pay us one Dinar a day”.
That was what their one day’s labour was worth...
There’s a hadith i recollect that was told to me by a friend of mine once. It goes something like once a man came to our Prophet (peace be upon him), and told him that there was no blessing (barkat) in his earnings. The Prophet (peace be upon him) asked him how much he charged for his services and told him that he was charging too much for the work he was doing, and that he should charge less. Still the man complained of his earnings not being blessed, and again the Prophet (peace be upon him) told him to charge lesser still. Finally after the third time the man said that now his earnings were beginning to have barkat.
The next one is about Sikandar, or Alexander the Great. Well, this dude Alex was returning from his defeat in India, and he was sick and dying, so he called vizier, and told him that when he dies and they’re taking out his funeral procession, they should take out one of his dead hands from the shroud and let it hang free.
The vizier said that it was not a wise decision, as the people would say that the ruler of seven kingdoms and seven rivers was, even at his death, still hungry to grab more...
Then Alexander replied, no, let them see that even the ruler of seven kingdoms and seven rivers and the greatest conquerer in the world was going empty handed in his death...
True or not? Who cares!
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