Pleasant Stories & Anecdotes — Page 29
Pleasant Stories—Condition Of The Rich 29 crying in his tent that Mahmood passed by and heard him crying and entered the tent. King Mahmood inquired whether he was missing his homeland and if so, he would send him back as the ruler of that land. The ruler replied, ‘I do not desire the world at the moment. I am thinking how will I face the question on the Day of Judgment as to what kind of a Muslim am I that I did not embrace Islam till Mahmood attacked and brought me with him. How fortunate would it have been had I understood early on that Islam was the true religion?’ (Malf ūzā t, vol. 5, p. 404–405) Condition of the Rich The condition of rich is such that they sit in comfort while the fan is available, and the servant serves them tea. The servant is chastised if there is any minute deficiency in it, whether sugar in the tea is less or more, they become filled with rage and are angry with the servant. When they are extremely angry, they even start beating their servants. . . They do not realize that just as the servant is also a human being and can make a mistake or can commit omission, so is the rich also a human being. I remember a story about King Hārūn ar-Rashīd. He had a housemaid. One day as she made the king’s bed, she found it fluffy, soft, and perfumed. She thought of lying on the bed to find out how comfortable it was. She laid on the bed and fell asleep.