A Sparrow and the Fire
Once upon a time, someone saw a sparrow who approached the fire hastily and returned frequently! It was asked, “Why are you doing so?”
The sparrow replied, “There is a fountain nearby and I fill my tip with water and pour it over the fire.”
The sparrow was answered sarcastically; “The volume of the fire is too high compared to the water you get! And this amount of water is useless for sure.”
The sparrow said, “I may not be able to put out the fire, but if Allah asks me, ‘What did you do when your friend was burning in the fire?’ I will answer, "I employed my utmost capability!"
The point of this story:
Do we also do everything we can to help our Imam?
During the time of Imam Mahdi's disappearance, we must do our utmost effort to satisfy him and to help him come sooner. Let me describe it more. As you know, Imam Mahdi who is hidden from our vision will come in a day. He will appear when he has enough followers and when the society can accept him. Therefore, those who truly wait for him should correct themselves and try to purify the society they live in. They should recommend others to goodness and forbid them from doing evil actions.
We should not think how a young boy or girl like us can help such a great man come sooner. Because if we do our best, when Allah asks us, "What did you do for your Imam?" we can proudly say. "We did everything we could."
The Villagers and the Well
In the distant past, there was a village with only one well of drinking water. One day a dog fell into the well and died. As a result, the water of the well was no longer usable.
The villagers became worried and went to a wise man to find out the solution. The wise man told them to remove one hundred buckets of water from the well and throw it away then the water will be clean.
The villagers took a hundred buckets of water, but there was not any change; the water was dirty and stinky as before. Again, they went to the wise man. He suggested that another one hundred buckets should be drawn.
The villagers did exactly, but the water remained dirty. According to the wise man, for the third time, the villagers took a hundred buckets of water, but the problem was not resolved at all.
"How is it possible that so much water is drawn from the well, but the water is still contaminated?!" the wise man said. But, suddenly as if the wise man realized the point, asked them in surprise, “Did you remove the dog's carcass from the well before drawing the three hundred buckets of water?” They answered, "No, you told us just to draw the water, not the dog's carcass".
The point of this story:
Concerning this story, we realize that for solving the problems, we must first discover the main cause and the root of the problem and then try to eliminate it. Otherwise our efforts will not be effective.
Likewise, Imam Mahdi loves the one who has a heart free of sins; because his pure love does not enter into the sinful and defiled hearts. So, if we want the Imam of the Age to pay attention to us, we must first abandon the bad deeds that lead us away from him. These bad actions are just like the carcass of the dog mentioned in the story which does not allow the love and devotion of the Imam which is like the pure water to flow into our hearts and souls.
On this matter, it is quoted from Imam Mahdi to have said,
«فِانّا يُحِيطُ عِلمُنا بِأَنبائِکُم وَلا يَعزُبُ عَنّا شَيءٌ مِن اَخبارِکُم»[1]
“Indeed, our knowledge encompasses your news (actions, incidents, affairs of life, and even intentions). And nothing out of your news remains hidden from us.”
Also, it is reported from Imam Mahdi to have said,
«... فَمَا یَحْبِسُنَا عَنْهُمْ إِلَّا مَا یَتَّصِلُ بِنَا مِمَّا نَکْرَهُهُ وَ لَا نُؤْثِرُهُ مِنْهُمْ...»[2]
"… So, there is nothing keeps us hidden from them (the Muslims) except the matters that reach us about them that do not please us and which we don’t expect from them..."
The Elephant Rope
A gentleman was walking through an elephant camp, and he spotted that the elephants were not being kept in cages or held by the use of chains. All that was holding them back from escaping the camp, was a small piece of rope tied to one of their legs.
As the man gazed upon the elephants, he was completely confused as to why the elephants did not just use their strength to break the rope and escape the camp. They could easily have done so, but instead, they did not try to at all.
Curious and wanting to know the answer, he asked a trainer nearby why the elephants were just standing there and never tried to escape.
The trainer replied;
“When they are very young and much smaller, we use the same size rope to tie them and, at that age, it is enough to hold them. As they grow up, they are conditioned to believe they cannot break away. They believe the rope can still hold them, so they never try to break free.”
The only reason that the elephants were not breaking free and escaping from the camp was that over time they adopted the belief that it just was not possible.
Moral points of the story:
No matter how much the world tries to hold you back, always continue with the belief that what you want to achieve is possible. Believing you can become successful is the most important step in actually achieving it. If from the beginning we witnessed that the world of Islam is entangled with oppression and injustice, and if from the time we realized we have an Infallible Imam, we were not in close contact with him, we should not think to solve the problems in our life is impossible. We need to trust our ability and rely on the mercy of Allah and move on. Imam Mahdi loves those who are active, physically strong, and mentally agile; not those who are disappointed, idle, and bored.
Let's talk about it more
The fact is that, when man succumbs to small faults and wrong customs in his society and do not try to get rid of them or release himself from the captivity of Satan or at least, stop from wrong deeds, he will gradually get accustomed to his current situation and lose his self-confidence and remain inactive towards his problems. There will no longer exist any hope in his heart for a possible change.
One of the teachings of Mahdism is that a person who believes in the appearance of the Imam of the Age must always wait for the appearance of that Imam and never feel disappointed, desperate, and disable.
In fact, believing in the advent of the Saviour and the appearance of him gives man hope and energy to easily break the chains of sins and achieve true freedom. We should rely on our ability and move on with trusting in Allah and hoping for a bright and beautiful future. This is what Imam Mahdi expects us to do.
Imam Mahdi wants us to always remember him and pray for his coming by saying in a narration,
«أَکْثِرُو الدُّعاءَ بِتَعْجیلِ الْفَرَجِ فَإِنَّ ذلِکَ فَرَجُکُمْ».[3]
"Pray too much for my appearance, since indeed, your relief (from problems) is rested in it."
This makes us be always ready for his coming and it makes the ropes that are tied to our legs become open.
Thinking Out of the Box
In a small Italian town, hundreds of years ago, a small business owner owed a large sum of money to a loan-shark. The loan-shark was a very old, unattractive looking guy that just so happened to fancy the business owner’s daughter.
He decided to offer the businessman a deal that would completely wipe out the debt he owed him. However, the catch was that we would only wipe out the debt if he could marry the businessman’s daughter.
Needless to say, this proposal was met with a look of disgust.
The loan-shark said that he would place two pebbles into a bag, one white and one black.
The daughter would then have to reach into the bag and pick out a pebble. If it was black, the debt would be wiped, but the loan-shark would then marry her. If it was white, the debt would also be wiped, but the daughter wouldn’t have to marry the loan-shark.
Standing on a pebble-strewn path in the businessman’s garden, the loan-shark bent over and picked up two pebbles.
Whilst he was picking them up, the daughter noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and placed them both into the bag.
He then asked the daughter to reach into the bag and pick one.
The daughter naturally had three choices as to what she could have done:
Refuse to pick a pebble from the bag;
Take both pebbles out of the bag and expose the loan-shark for cheating;
Pick a pebble from the bag fully well knowing it was black and sacrifice herself for her father’s freedom.
She drew out a pebble from the bag, and before looking at it ‘accidentally’ dropped it into the midst of the other pebbles. She said to the loan-shark,
“Oh, how clumsy of me. Never mind, if you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which pebble I picked.”
The pebble left in the bag is black, and seeing as the loan-shark did not want to be exposed, he had to play along as if the pebble the daughter dropped was white, and clear her father’s debt.
Moral point of the story:
It is always possible to overcome a tough situation in our life and not give in to the only options we think we have to pick from.
As the same, a real expectant of Imam Mahdi should not be cheated easily by the mischievous people who try to cast doubt into the mind of people about their religion, and their Imam to disappoint them from their real Godly path.
You can always overcome difficult situations and do not give up easily in the face of options that you think you have no choice but to choose. Islamic hadiths advise the believers to be keen and clever and do not let others deceive them, especially during the absence of the Imam of the Age. In the era of the Imam’s absence, some try to mislead people and weaken their belief regarding his coming. At this time, a believer carefully must monitor the activities of the deceitful enemies so he can detect their deception and do not be fooled by their conspiracy. If we obey religious commands and follow the true scholars of Islam during the absence of Imam Mahdi, the fateful plan of enemies not only cannot harm us but also, we can ruin their plan and use them against themselves.
Imam Mahdi, in order not to be deceived by the plans of the enemies, has guided us by saying,
«أَمَّا الْحَوَادِثُ الْوَاقِعَةُ فَارْجِعُوا فِیهَا إِلَی رُوَاةِ حَدِیثِنَا فَإِنَّهُمْ حُجَّتِی عَلَیْکُمْ وَ أَنَا حُجَّةُ اللَّهِ»[4]
"As for the new occurrences, you should turn to the narrators of our Hadith because they are my proofs on you and I am Allah’s proof on them."
Source: The Final Hope, April 2020, Issue no. 1
