Hidden Gems in Islamic History

Have you ever wondered why the Qur’anic term for “Success” comes from the same root as the word for “Farmer”? Sister Amatullah wrote a very beautiful and detailed piece on this here.

Below are a few real examples from the lives of Tabi’een – the generation that learnt directly from the Sahabah.

Story One ‘ Tales of The Sour Pomegranate 

 Once, the a guard was asked by his master (the owner of the garden) to go and pick out for him a pomegranate that is sweet in taste.The guard went away and came back with one which then turned out to be sour. The master frowned upon his guard and said, ‘this was sour,I want a sweet one!’. The guard ventures off to the garden and again
 returns with one that is sour. The scenario repeats itself three times until the master exclaims in disappointment, ‘you have been guarding my gardens for an entire year now. Have you still not learnt to differentiate between a sweet and sour pomagranate?!?” The guard replied ‘when you hired me, you instructed me to guard your fruits, but you gave me no permission to taste them- how then do you expect me to learn how they taste?”  The master was astonished by this simple man’s conduct and trustworthiness, and offered to marry him to his daughter, and the guard accepted very happily. The fruit of this marriage was the birth of no other than the great tabi’i (second generation of Muslims, who met the Sahabah but not Rasul Allah), Abdullah ibn Al Mubarak, one of the greatest scholar and ascetics of this Ummah.
 
 Story Two ‘ The Apple on The Walk Path’
 As he walked by the garden, he saw an apple on the walk path.It had fallen off the tree whose branch extends beyond the fences to shade the way. He picked it up and ate it. Shortly thereafter, he was struck by guilt, thinking he had consumed an apple that didn’t belong to him. He set out to find the owner of the garden to inform him that he ate one of his apples without permission, in order to pay the monetary value of it, or be forgiven for this sinful deed.

 The owner was amazed and cleverly responded, ‘I will not
 forgive  you unless you accept my one stipulation: that you marry my daughter. But she is deaf, blind, mute and paralysed’. The man was gobsmacked, and juggled his thoughts
 in his head for a moment. He then surrendered to the stipulation, knowing that persevering with such a misfortunate wife would be less horrific than the torment of Allah for ‘stealing’ an apple. The night of the marriage came, and the groom walks in to his brides’ room with deep feelings of sorrow – only to find a woman of immense beauty awaiting him. Not only that, but  she  could speak, hear, see and walk freely. Moreover, she was very well learned in Islam, exceptional in piety. She said to her now husband, ‘I know you are surprised. My father described
 me as blind, and that is because I have blinded my eyes away from any sight which displeases Allah; he said I’m mute, because I’ve muted my tongue from all speech but the rememberance of Allah; I’m paralysed because I endulge in no forbidden activity; and I’m  deaf because I refrain from hearing all vain speech. My father wanted to ensure my husband was a very pious man, one whom deserves me.”  The man who ate the apple was none other than the great Imam Abu Hanifa rahimahullah.
 
 Story Three ‘ The Milky Water drink
 
 The famous story of the woman who sold milk during the era of Umar Ibn Al Khattab radhi Allahu anhu. The woman would mix the milk with water at night to increase it’s volume and generate greater revenues from her trade in the morning. As Umar Radhi Allahu anhu walked by her home during his routine nightly inspections, he overheard the daughter of this woman proclaim, ‘Oh mother! If you’re assured that Umar does not see you cheating in the secrecy of your home in the middle of the night, then be certain that the Lord  of Umar sees and records all actions.’ Umar Radi Allahu anhu heard the words of this god-fearing young woman , and asked his son [Asim] to marry her. Their child was Layla, mother of Ameer-ul Mu’mineen Umaribn Abdul-Aziz, the Umayyad caliph described by most Islamic historians as the 5th of the 4 rightly guided caliph’s, due to his exceptional knowledge, conduct, justice and piety.

From this we learn that our mistakes could often be a blessing in disguise, as long as we always remain truthful and honst in our conduct, even if it means submitting to a less than pleasing situation.

Taken from an email, sent by an amazing sister!