|
‘AL-SADAQAH’ : FRIENDSHIP
Waqidi
who was one of the great scholars during the time of Mamun al-Rasheed,
the Abbasid Caliph narrates the following incident:
[I
had two friends, one of whom was a Hashemite. Our friendship was so
sincere that we were in fact one soul in three bodies.
Once
during ‘Idd season, I had no money. My wife said to me, “You and I
can tolerate all these hardships. However, I am very much grieved
because our children see other children wearing new dresses and adorning
themselves for ‘Idd whereas their own clothes are old and torn. See if
you can get some money so that I can make new clothes for them”.
I could
not think of any solution to the problem so I wrote a letter to my
Hashemite friend and requested him to assist me. My friend sent me a
sealed bag that contained 1000 dirham. I had not yet opened the bag when
a person sent by my other friend came. He informed me about my friend’s
financial difficulties and sought help from me. I gave him the bag to
take it to my other friend. I then went to the mosque with a heavy
heart. As I felt ashamed to face my wife, I spent the night there.
When I
went home in the morning, to my surprise, she received me with a
cheerful face and was pleased at my having done well to my friend and
having considered his needs before considering my own.
In the
meantime, my Hashemite friend arrived at my house and asked me
curiously, “Tell me the truth, what have you done with the bag of
money which I had sent to you yesterday?” I told him the whole
incident. After hearing me out, he bowed down his head for a moment and
then said, “Yesterday when you sent me the message and asked for
help, I had no money except this bag. I sent it to you and wrote a
letter to our other friend seeking his help. He sent me my own sealed
bag and I could not understand the matter till you just explained it to
me”.
Eventually, the three of us divided the money among ourselves and 100
dirham out of it was given to my wife. When Mamun heard about this
strange incident, he sent for me and enquired about the matter. I
related the entire incident to him. Mamun then ordered that 2000 dinar
should be given to each one of us and 1000 dinar to my wife as a gift.]
(Murooj al-Dhahab)
LESSON
POINT:
A friend
in need is a friend indeed.
Imam
Ja’ffar ibn Muhammad al-Sadiq (a.s.) has said,
“Friendship has limits and conditions.
Whosoever does not fulfil some of these conditions is not a perfect
friend and one who does not fulfil any of them cannot be called a friend
at all:
-
His
exterior and interior should be alike and whatever he speaks about you
with his tongue should come from his heart as well.
-
He
should consider your good as his own good and your bad as his own bad.
Likewise, he should consider your honour as his honour and your
disgrace as his disgrace.
-
If his
financial status improves and he accumulates wealth or acquires a
dignified position, he should not change his attitude towards you.
-
He
should not be averse to assisting you to the fullest extent of his
capability.
-
He
should not abandon you and leave you on your own when in
adversity”.
(Meezan al-Hikmah)
Mulla
Mujaheedali Sheriff
mulla@almahdi.org.uk |