“The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) was the best of people, and he was the most generous of people and the most courageous of people. One night the people of Madina were in a state of panic, and some people went out towards the noise. They were met by the Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam), who was coming back, as he had gone towards the noise before them. He was riding the horse of Abu Talha bareback , with his sword around his neck, and he said, ‘Do not be afraid, do not be afraid.’” [Sahih Muslim] The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) was the first to go out to investigate noise that frightened the people of Madina. In fact he had gone so quickly to defend and take care of his Ummah that he hadn’t even bothered to saddle his horse and was already returning from his investigation by the time the others were setting out to investigate it. What is the state of our courage? A man came to a tattooist and asked him to tattoo a lion on his back to give him strength. The man sat him down but as soon as he pricked him with the tattooing needle he cried out, “What are you making?” The tattooist replied, “I’m making the tail.” The man said, “Don’t make the tail. This lion has no flies no shoo away!” So the tattooist left the tail and pricked him on the other side of his back. The man yelped again and asked, “What are you doing now?” The tattooist replied, “I’m making the head.” The man said, “This lion is not going to be looking at anything, forget about the head!” The tattooist then tried to make the stomach but the man charged that the lion wasn’t going to eat anything. To cut a long story short, whatever part of the lion the tattooist tried to make, the man would question and prevent him from making. Finally, the artist threw away his needle and declared, “Who has seen a lion without ears, head or stomach? Allah has not even created such a lion, how am I to tattoo such a one?” [Mathnawi] Maulana Rumi states after relating this anecdote, “If you can’t even bear the prick of a needle, don’t talk about a lion.”
Posted on: Fri, 14 Feb 2014 12:02:20 +0000
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