Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Thorn in a Rose Garden

يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا اتَّقُوا اللَّهَ وَكُونُوا مَعَ الصَّادِقِينَ

Oh you who Believe! Fear Allah and be with those who are the truthful ones.

Once upon a time there was a thorn that lived in a garden filled with roses, where it enjoyed the company and beautiful scent of the rose. However this thorn was quite aggrieved when it saw the gardener come in everyday and sweet away all of the fallen leaves and thorns.

The thorn then took matters up with Allah. It mentioned about how it was so small and so insignificant compared to the rose, and how it feared that it too would be swept out of the garden one day, thereby being deprived of the company of the beautifully scented rose.

So, this thorn was then advised that it should keep itself attached to the rose. In this way, not only would it enjoy being in its company, but its price would be the same as well, and no matter where the rose went, it would go along, thereby never leaving the rose's company.

In such a way we laymen are the thorns, and the Friends of Allah are the roses. Insha Allah if we thorns keep ourselves attached to the roses, then Allah Ta'aala will allow us to benefit from these roses and also take us to where the roses go, in this world and the next.

The story about the thorn and rose is actually from the Mathnawi of Shaykh Jalaluddin Rumi Rahmatullahi 'Alayhi. I simply retold it in the words that I read from ('Aashiq-e-Sawdiq Part 2 by Moulana Yunus Patel saheb) and heard from (in a talk by Moulana Abdul-Hameed, Principal of Azadville Madrassah).

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