Friday Post 10

By Shofi Ahmed

Things are about to get great. What the shiekh did, well he didn’t have to do it. He made an intention and declared to do it. He accepted the challenge thrown by a non-Muslim to prove that the Qur’an woun’t burn in the fire. He said he will not put it in the fire but himself will enter it with the Qur’an. That esed. That was it to settle the score. The non-Muslim made U-turn accpting his defeat as he was challenged to do the same with his Bible.

The non-Muslim beleived the sheikh. From the bottom of his heart he believed that the fire won’t touch the sheikh, who has such a pure faith in the Qur’an who is willing to enter fire with it. That in many ways answers our prime question if we were to learn exploring this story.

As we read the story, how the sheikh beat the villain in his own game we felt proud. Generally we do that, when we hear the facts in Islam are getting proven time and again. We feel proud. That’s good. But better is when we learn from it. So what’s in the box that we can learn from this story?

For that let’s do some brainstorming together. Can we find a sheikh who can do the same now? That can plunge himself into the fire but not the Qur’an, in case a villain throws a similar challenge in our time. Probably you will say no. I already asked one, the answer was no. Why not?

Let’s explore. It will help us find the missing link. We need that. It will help us get our basics right. For example, back to our first question we read earlier ‘is Islam simply simple’. We can answer these questions by elaborating the subject matter.

For now, let’s find out how Khalifa Osman Goni (may Allah SWT be pleased with him) beat the Jewish businessman who charged residents of Madinah for water in his own game. After he became the business partner he introduced a policy. They both agree that one day one partner will run the business in his way. The other day the other partner will do the same.

Khalifa Osman on his business day made the water well a free day for the residents of Madinah. While the Jewish businessman kept the charge on his day. So everyone was able to get the water for free. Eventually the Jewish businessman left, selling his remaining shares to Osman Goni (RA).

Done! It was that Simple. Nonetheless, zoom in and In Shaa Allah we will see how it relates to our quest.