Officer Mohammad Amin was invited by one of his acquaintances, a pasha, [130]to a banquet in his palace in the al-Zabadani region. He was of Turkish origin, very prestigious, and held a high position in the Turkish government during the Ottoman era.
The pasha was well acquainted with Officer Sheikho’s deeds which were most important to the hierarchy of the Turkish government and they had nicknamed him ‘Aslan’ (lion), for he truly feared no-one and he was greatly admired and respected by his followers and leaders, especially the high commander of the Turkish army who had great affection for him and had made him one of his closest confidants. This incited jealousy among some of the Turkish officers and led them to hold grudges against him because, despite his Arabic origin, he was regarded with the greatest respect by those at the highest level of the government machine. But those low people could not harm him, and Allah raised him to higher levels of dignity and eminence because of his nobility and goodness.
M. A. Sheikho had many acquaintances and all of them revered him greatly for his excellent ability to achieve the best possible outcome for all problems and to perform whatever duties he was charged with to the best of his ability. He amazed everyone with his wonderful ideas and amazing deeds so they all held him in high esteem.
Officer Sheikho travelled on horseback from Damascus to the pasha’s palace in the al-Zabadani region, a journey which took from early morning till noon. When he arrived, he was received by the pasha who had retired from public and political life, but still remembered what he had learnt about this officer and how he had dedicated his life to serving people and supporting the truth in all matters, and so, he had great affection for him, admired him, and appreciated him highly.
After he had welcomed him in a hospitable fashion he praised him for his actions and accomplishments and chatted to him in the most pleasant fashion, then our beloved officer took up the conversation and the joyful session lasted till very late, in fact till well after midnight. When it was time for sleep, and after the pasha had ordered the servants to prepare a room with the greatest comforts where his honourable guest would stay overnight, he said that he, personally, would like to show Mohammad Amin to the Animals Are God’s Creatures Too comfortable room specially prepared for him, but the officer halted for a moment and said, ‘I would first like to check my horse.’
The pasha told him not to worry about it as he would order the servants to take care of it. But his guest thanked him and said that he always checked his horse himself and that way he would be relaxed and sleep easily.
The pasha thought that Amin’s insistence on going to the stable was rather strange, so he said again, ‘Don’t worry about it…’ and taking him by the arm he led him towards the bedroom. Thereupon, our officer turned to him saying politely, ‘I’m sorry, but if you don’t let me I’ll go back to Damascus at once.’
It was late, long after midnight, so the pasha asked him,
‘Would you leave now? And for the sake of a horse?’
He replied, ‘Yes, by God!… I’ll leave for Damascus immediately if you do not let me go to the stables.’
The pasha was astonished at his insistence to look after the horse himself and, as the good host, he felt compelled to comply with his request, so he ordered the servants to bring a lantern to light the way to the stables. Mohammad Amin went to the stables where he found that the ground was paved with cobblestones, some of which had slightly pointed tips which would likely be most uncomfortable for the horses and probably prevent them sleeping comfortably. They would have to stand all during the night and if they sat, they would not be able to move for it would be very painful. When he reached the stables he did, indeed, find weary horses standing up and not able to sleep properly.
When he saw this, he was very upset and felt sad, for the poor animals were suffering. At once he asked the servants to bring a sack of hay, then he set about spreading it on the ground so that his horse could lie down to sleep but the pasha held his arm trying to prevent him from doing such menial work and insisted that he should let the servants do it.
But Amin insisted on completing the work of tending to his horse himself.
The pasha said, ‘Oh God! Do you take all this trouble and tire yourself for the sake of a horse? Leave it alone… and even if it dies, I’ll offer you a better one…choose whatever one you like from these thoroughbreds.’
But the officer did not accept the offer, even though it was well meant, for he always showed great mercy to animals as well as to mankind.
After he had prepared a place for his horse to rest, he asked the servants to bring him a quantity of fodder and a sieve for sifting out small stones, so he could feed his horse.
The pasha was astonished at such strange behaviour as people of his exalted rank were unfamiliar with such kind treatment of animals, and he had never seen such a high ranking officer to be so concerned about them: feeding them himself and caring about their rest. It was something odd in his view, and the strangest thing, as he had offered the officer any one of his many beautiful purebred horses which were bred from the highest lineage, in place of his own; but he refused.
The servants brought a sieve to clean the fodder as he had requested, he then put the hay and barley into the sieve and sifted it, then removed a great number of small stones which would have caused his horse a lot of pain while chewing its food and would probably break its teeth. And, it is a fact, that the pasha’s thoroughbred horses did not like it when they chewed on the small stones in the fodder and they did in fact suffer a lot of pain.
After he had prepared food, water and a place for his horse to rest, our officer, Mohammad Amin said, ‘Now I can go to sleep happy and untroubled.’
A great feeling of mercy overwhelmed his heart and became transformed into words of advice for the pasha that he should give orders to the stablemen to take care of all the animals’ food, drink, and the place for them to sleep; and to take care that these instructions were carried out.
He emphasized to the pasha that he should not take these recommendations lightly otherwise Allah would punish him by sending him afflictions and misfortunes in the present worldly life before he could go to the life Hereafter. On the other hand, Mohammad Amin told him, he would receive great benefits if he paid proper attention to the matter even though it would cost him nothing except to give the appropriate kind orders.
He told him that these creatures will ask God, on the Day of Resurrection, to call him to account and punish him if he wrongs them and causes them harm. But the pasha did not believe these words, nor did he care about such matters, and his reply was simply: ‘Is it possible that Allah would punish me for the sake of a horse? It’s worthless and even if it dies, we can get another one… its only purpose is to serve us.’
In the morning our officer, Mohammad Amin, took leave of his friend and was very sad for him because of his cruelty and because he failed to listen to the advice he was offered: the same advice which has the power to lift man’s spirit towards happiness in this life and the life to come.
Sometime after this visit, the pasha fell ill and the condition lasted for many years, and our officer understood full well the painful condition that had afflicted him. He was not able to lie on any side of his suffering body… all during the night he groaned and turned from side to side, his body wracked with pain.
He could not sleep by night or by day… except for the occasional short nap, but even that was with great difficulty… and however he moved, the pain was always present. He could hardly eat, taking only a very little food out of necessity. He suffered unbearable spasms in his jaws and teeth so that he was unable to chew anything, and after every bite, he cried out because of the severe pain.
He had no respite from that wretched situation until the day he died. It was his poor treatment of animals that caused this painful illness to be inflicted on him so that he would experience something of their suffering before finally leaving this earthly life.
This must surely be a lesson to all mankind: there is a price to pay for every wrong deed one commits irrespective of however long he lives.
The pasha was buried in al-Zabadani region close to the border with Lebanon. This region was called al-Jirjaniyeh, and his tomb can still be seen in front of his palace, the al- Jirjaniyeh palace. How fitting that the tomb lies in front of the palace to remind all that death surely follows life.
Let this be a lesson for anyone who has a heart and mind or who listens and earnestly witnesses the truth.