taimur
06-21-2005, 01:55 PM
Asalaamwalaikum,
We all know the styles of debating that the scholars used with each other and the people around them.
I was reading this book on dawah, and they had a quote from the Imam while he met up wtih a Jew.
Muhammad ‘Abdur-Rahman ‘Iwad reports a beautiful story in his book Ad-Dunyaa about
how Imam ash-Shaafi’ee (rahimahullah) conveyed this warning of the hereafter to a Jew;
‘Once a Jew, who was hurrying and struggling behind his donkey loaded with oil, passed by
Imam ash-Shaafi’ee. The Jew’s clothes were filthy and his whole manner was repulsive.
When the Jew met the Imam who was reclining in the shade and dressed in immaculately
clean clothes, he stopped and asked him: ‘How is it that people (Muslims) can say that the
dunyaa is the prison of the believer and the paradise of the disbeliever?’ (indicating the
blessings surrounding the Imam and the striving and toil in which he found himself): it was
as if he was insinuating that those words were not true and that if they were true then ease
should be for the Jew and toil and struggle should be for the Imam who could expect his
blessings in the hereafter.) The Imam replied: ‘Yes it is true that the dunyaa is the prison for
the believer and paradise for the disbeliever, for it is true that the blessings that I enjoy now
represent a prison in relation to what awaits me in the next world. And if you realized what
torment awaits you, then you would know that this lower world you now enjoy is in fact
paradise compared to that.’ SubhanAllah, I just had a big smile after I read that and had to share it with you guys.
walaikumasalaam
- Taimur
We all know the styles of debating that the scholars used with each other and the people around them.
I was reading this book on dawah, and they had a quote from the Imam while he met up wtih a Jew.
Muhammad ‘Abdur-Rahman ‘Iwad reports a beautiful story in his book Ad-Dunyaa about
how Imam ash-Shaafi’ee (rahimahullah) conveyed this warning of the hereafter to a Jew;
‘Once a Jew, who was hurrying and struggling behind his donkey loaded with oil, passed by
Imam ash-Shaafi’ee. The Jew’s clothes were filthy and his whole manner was repulsive.
When the Jew met the Imam who was reclining in the shade and dressed in immaculately
clean clothes, he stopped and asked him: ‘How is it that people (Muslims) can say that the
dunyaa is the prison of the believer and the paradise of the disbeliever?’ (indicating the
blessings surrounding the Imam and the striving and toil in which he found himself): it was
as if he was insinuating that those words were not true and that if they were true then ease
should be for the Jew and toil and struggle should be for the Imam who could expect his
blessings in the hereafter.) The Imam replied: ‘Yes it is true that the dunyaa is the prison for
the believer and paradise for the disbeliever, for it is true that the blessings that I enjoy now
represent a prison in relation to what awaits me in the next world. And if you realized what
torment awaits you, then you would know that this lower world you now enjoy is in fact
paradise compared to that.’ SubhanAllah, I just had a big smile after I read that and had to share it with you guys.
walaikumasalaam
- Taimur