Pleasant Stories & Anecdotes — Page 48
48 The Virtuous and the Wretched The Almighty God Himself provides wholesome things to the virtuous and gives impure things to the wretched… A king hosted a pious man to a feast. The meat of goat was prepared as well as the pork. When the food was served, the pork dish was deliberately placed in front of the pious man whereas mutton was served to the king and his friends and an announce- ment was, then, made to start eating. The Almighty God revealed the truth to the pious man, and he said that the distribution of food was not even. He swapped the dishes and also kept reciting the following verse of the Holy Qur’ān: 1 َ ن �ۡ ي �ِ ش �ۡ ي �ِ ج �َ ن �ۡلِل ُ ت �ٰ ش �ۡ ي �ِ ج �َ ن اَل�ۡ (Malf ūzā t, vol. 6, p. 73–74) Selection of a Friend A remarkable thing is written in a book. A man was walking on the road weeping. A man of God met him on the way and asked, ‘Why are you crying?’ He replied, ‘My friend has passed away’. The man of God said, ‘You should have pondered in advance. Why did you have a friendship with someone who was to die?’ (Malf ūzā t, vol. 7, p. 22) 1. Bad things are for bad men ( S u rah an-N u r, 24:27). [Publisher]