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One day Prophet Muhammad (S) and his followers went on a journey. After travelling for a long time they got tired, so they stopped for a rest.
They decided to make a small camp and cook some food.
One of the men said that he would go and kill a lamb so that they could cook it.
Another man said that he would remove the skin of the lamb before it was cooked.
Another said that he would light the fire and cook the meat.
Each one of the men said that he would do a certain job so that the work could be done quickly and fairly.
The Prophet (S) then said that he would collect and bring the firewood from the forest.
All the men told him that there was no need for him to do anything at all. They would do all the work.
The Prophet (S) told them that he knew that they could do the work, but Allah does not like for a person to sit and let other people do all the work.
The Prophet (S) also explained to them that although he was their Prophet he did not like to get special treatment from them. This is because Allah does not like a person to think that he is better than other people.
When we sit back and let other people do the work, it makes us lazy. We should all share in any work that needs to be done, so that it can be done quickly and easily.
The Holy Prophet (S) was sitting in the mosque in Madina giving a talk to some of his followers while they were waiting for Salaat time to set in.
A rich man wearing expensive clothes came and sat in front of the Holy Prophet (S) to listen to his talk.
Meanwhile another man who had also came to listen to the Holy Prophet (S) sat down beside the rich man.
The second man was not rich, in fact he was quite poor. The old and torn clothes he was wearing showed just how poor he was.
The rich man did not like for the poor man to sit next to him. He pulled his nice, new, expensive clothes closer to himself, so that they would not be touched by the dirty, old, torn clothes of the poor man.
The Holy Prophet (S) noticed what the rich man had done and was upset and disappointed. He asked the rich man why he had done this? Was it because he thought that some of his wealth might go to the poor man, or was it because he thought some of the poverty of the poor man might come to him.
The rich man, who was not a bad person, realised what he had done was wrong and was truly sorry.
To make up for his mistake and to show how sorry he was, the rich man after apologising to the poor man, offered him half of all his wealth.
The poor man told the rich man that he accepted his apology and forgave him, but did not want half of his wealth as he did not want to get something without having worked for it.
Moral:
In the eyes of Allah how rich or poor a person is makes no difference. The person who is closest to Allah is the one who obeys Him in every action.
Prophet Muhammad (S) was a very kind person and he never got angry even when people were very naughty.
There was one old woman who was very bad. She used to throw rubbish on the Holy Prophet (S) whenever he passed her house.
Prophet Muhammad (S) used to have to pass her house every morning when he went to the mosque and every morning this naughty old woman used to throw her rubbish on him but he never ever got angry with her.
One day when the Holy Prophet (S) was passing the old woman's house, she did not throw rubbish on him. He stopped and asked the old woman's neighbour if she was all right because she was not there to throw rubbish on him.
The neighbour told him that the old woman was not well and she was in bed. So the Holy Prophet (S) went to see the old woman because it is good to go and see people who are not well and ask them if they need anything.
When the old woman saw the Holy Prophet (S), she thought he had come to tell her off and she said "why did you wait until I was ill to tell me off, why didn't you come when I was well and strong?"Prophet Muhammad (S) told the old woman that he had not come to tell her off but to see and look after her because she was not well and Allah tells us to look after people who are not well.
The old woman was so surprised that the Holy Prophet (S) was being so kind to her after she had been so mean to him, that she decided from then on to listen to him and she became a Muslim.
One day Prophet Muhammad (S) was on a journey and very tired, so he sat down under a tree to rest.
A bad man seeing that the Holy Prophet (S) was alone thought it was a good time to kill him quickly and quietly. He went towards the Holy Prophet (S) with his sword out in front of him.
He asked the Holy Prophet (S): "Tell me who can help you now?"
"Allah," answered the Holy Prophet (S) calmly.
When the bad man saw how calm and sure the Holy Prophet (S) was that Allah would help him, he became frightened and the sword fell from his hand.
Prophet Muhammad (S) picked up the sword and asked: "Now you tell me who is there to save you?"
"No-one" answered the man.
"No, you are wrong, the same Allah will help you also," said the Holy Prophet (S) and then he let the man go.
When the man heard this he became a Muslim.
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