Cherished Memories of Africa — Page 123
105 Blessing of Chanda: Lost Luggage Found An honourable friend from Senegal, who had been a member of parliament over a long period and had rendered several other services at national level, called Diabite Kabine Kaba came to me one day and said that he had not paid chanda for quite a while. He asked me to calculate the amount due to him as chanda; that I did and he paid the amount. I said jazakumullah (May Allah reward you). He said, ‘actually I should be saying jazakumullah because you prompted me to take part in this good deed, therefore, I should be thankful to you’. Then he left for his town which is about 475 kilometres from Dakar. Next day he rang me and said, ‘jazakumullah’. I asked what for? He replied, ‘After settimg out for Tambacounda from Dakar yesterday, I reached Gosas by the evening. There I offered Maghrib prayer by the roadside, had some dinner and restarted the journey. After about one hour’s drive, I asked the driver for my briefcase. The driver searched for it in the car but it was not there. I got very worried. I thought that I forgot it on the spot where I had prayed. So returned to the spot but there was no sign of the briefcase. I was worried a lot but could do nothing but endure it. Next morning somebody rang me and after confirming my identity asked me if I had lost anything. I said yes, I had lost a briefcase that contained an airline ticket for Saudi Arabia, a passport, some important documents and one million CFA (equivalent to 250,000 Pakistani Rupees). He told me that he was an Engineer touring our region and had found a briefcase on the roadside the night before. When nobody answered his