Lesson Four
Miracles are achieved through true belief and prayer
(A real story)
Al’lah’s Envoy (cpth) said, "Truly, deeds are measured according to their intentions, and each man will be rewarded according to what he intended."
So, be sure that you act only out of the best of intentions and you will gain all that is good and pure, and achieve happiness on this earth and in the Hereafter.
An old woman went to work as a washerwoman in the house of the Turkish Pasha in Damascus, for an agreed amount; it was customary for women to do this menial work in the houses of rulers and rich people. One day, while this old woman was attending to her tasks at the Pasha’s house, his wife sat beside the washerwoman aiming to amuse herself in idle chat. The woman was crying copious amounts of tears while washing the linen. The Pasha’s wife asked her why she was crying so piteously, and the washerwoman wiped her eyes and told the Pasha’s wife about her sadness and suffering, saying, ‘My husband died a long time ago leaving behind our only son, so I surrounded him with the great love of a mother for her son; I treated him with the utmost compassion and kindness, and I worried about him every single day. As time went by I always hoped that he would help me during my life and be a support in my old age. Yet when he was an adolescent, in the prime of his youth, and I saw promising signs of the man he would become and his kindness and sympathy towards me, death took him away from me forever. And in the worst possible way! He was murdered, leaving me all alone, helpless and suffering from grief, and growing old. That’s why I had to find work to provide food for myself in this life as there is no-one to help me except Al’lah.’
Letting out a long painful sigh, this poor childless woman wiped away her tears of sorrow. Yes, she wept and so too did the wife of the Pasha, the ruler of the state of Sham. [ The state of Sham was Greater Syria and comprised: Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Palestine].The Pasha’s wife dried her tears and asked her, ‘Who were the killers?’
She replied, ‘Nobody knows, even though many detective units were sent out to investigate his murder, but in vain. So my son’s blood was spilled with impunity and I wasn’t given any financial compensation as they didn’t find the guilty killer. And I’ve been left to work for a subsistence just to keep body and soul together despite my feebleness and old age.’
After hearing of this sad situation the Pasha’s wife went directly to her husband to tell him this old woman’s story. Out of her kindness and strong emotions for a fellow human being, she was moved to tears yet again as she related the story to her husband. He, in turn, became extremely upset on hearing of the plight of the poor washerwoman and promptly sent for the high commander of the army, ordering him to appear before him at once, and to bring some gendarmes along too!
When the commander presented himself, the Pasha addressed him angrily, ‘Where are your men, the peace officers? What is this neglect and carelessness that I’m hearing about? Six months have passed since a serious crime was committed in a certain small village and the criminal has not been found! This is gross dereliction of duty on the part of the peace officers!’
Then, in a very stern voice he ordered him to go off to enquire about the matter he had been advised of, and he stressed that no effort should be spared to bring the murderer to justice.
The commander took his leave of the Pasha, and then went out thinking to himself, ‘How can I resolve this? All traces of the crime were wiped out six months a go; and many squads of peace officers have investigated the matter but… all in vain… they…!’
At that very moment the commander’s train of thought was interrupted as he remembered our experienced officer M. Amin to whom they always used to turn in times of trouble and strife. Whenever this trusty officer was in charge, all complicated matters were quickly resolved, evil crimes were solved and villains were eliminated, as he believed that nothing was impossible with Al’lah’s Aid. Instantly, the commander called him to report to his office. It was Friday, the weekend, and his customary day of rest from his demanding duties, but he came promptly as requested. The commander told him what had happened and explained that the Pasha had officially intervened to have this crime further investigated.
Officer M. Amin said, ‘Oh your Excellency! Today is my day off; could we please delay discussing this subject till tomorrow?’
That is because our officer had intended to attend Friday prayers in the mosque but the commander refused and ordered him to go immediately and take along as many policemen as he needed to solve the crime.
The commander confirmed in writing that this was an official mission by which everybody would be at M. Amin’s command and cooperate with him even if they out- ranked him.
Our officer replied, ‘Yes, Sir,’ saluted his commanding officer and went out towards the headquarters in an unhappy frame of mind for his heart had been set on attending Friday prayers.
He decided on seven of the policemen and a guide, and headed off with them for Kafar- Sosah village, near to the city of Damascus, where the unsolved crime had been committed.
On the way he asked the guide to inform him as soon as they reached the outer boundaries of the village orchards. Along the way he bowed his head mulling over the best way to resolve this crime, and with only the best of intentions in his heart he asked for Al’lah’s Help.
When they reached the orchards’ boundaries, the guide told Officer Sheikho that they had arrived at their destination, then our officer ordered the policemen to disperse in all directions and along the roads that led to the town. They were to advise everyone they might come across on the way to cooperate with the policemen from Damascus when they arrived, and that all the inhabitants of the village were to gather in the village square: but all men aged between 16 and 70 years were to gather in the coffee shop.
The policemen set about their task and performed it perfectly by gathering all the inhabitants in the square by the time Officer M. Amin reached it. He told the crowd that he had come to solve the crime of the murdered youth, the son of the elderly woman, and he mentioned his name
After then telling everyone to gather in the coffee house from where the chairs and tables had been removed, he called the sheikh (imam) of the village, the mayor, and the two village elders, as well as ordering the owners of four shops facing the coffee house to open their shops and then return to the coffee house.
He told the sheikh (imam), the mayor, and the two elders to sit, each one, behind the counter of a different shop and face outwards. Then, he set his plan in motion: his hand shot out and grabbed a chair which he put down suddenly in front of the sheikh who was seated, as ordered, behind the counter of one of the shops. Officer Sheikho sat there facing him, his back to the people of the village, and began to stare straight into the eyes of the sheikh, while the latter looked at him fearfully waiting for him to speak. But our officer did not utter a single word, which made the sheikh blink and avert his eyes. Our officer remained in that position for about five minutes then he grabbed the chair again and slammed it down before the mayor who was sitting in the next shop; now M. Amin was looking quite smug, as though he had got the answer he was looking for. Again he sat, and this time stared at the mayor who expected our officer to fire a question at him. He began to stare at him while the mayor’s eyes were fixed fearfully on those of the officer, anxiously waiting for a question that did not come. The wise officer did just as he had done with the sheikh! Five more minutes passed! Then he rapidly dragged his chair across to where one of the elders was sitting in the next shop and repeated the same performance he had given with the first two men, and so another five minutes passed. Finally, he carried his chair over to the second village elder. All the while the inhabitants of the village were looking on in amazement, and could only imagine the conversations taking place between them. Officer M. Amin acted in the very same manner with the second elder and a further five minutes passed. Then he leapt to his feet and, turning to the people, he bellowed suddenly, ‘Get out… I’ve found you!’ At this moment a young lad said, ‘Is it me sir?’
‘Yes, get out you villain,’ retorted Officer Sheikho!
The people turned their backs on the youngster, and as soon as he was outside, the policemen led him to one of the four shops and threw him on the ground as ordered by our bold officer, tying a rope around his ankles and raising his feet. Our officer, M. A. Sheikho, raised his whip and prepared to give the youngster fifty lashes on the soles of his feet. At this moment, the lad was sure that he was about to die, then, our officer said to him, ‘Admit the truth, or else you’ll die by the whip.’
The youngster then cried out, begging him, ‘Oh, Sir! I swear by Al’lah that I didn’t kill him… the mayor’s son did it!’
Our officer called out to the mayor’s son, but they replied that he was usually asleep at that time because he spent all night drinking wine. With no further delay our officer sent policemen to summon him from his father’s house.
As they had been told, they found him asleep in his bed, so they woke him roughly, and led him, bound, to the village square where our officer and the local people were all gathered. When the mayor’s son saw, to his dismay, what was happening and recognized the witness to his crime, and was also informed that a second witness would soon come to testify against him, he realised that there was no chance to deny it; he confessed the truth.
The witness said that they were sitting in one of the orchards with a third youngster from Daraia village, talking and drinking wine, when the washerwoman’s son came into view riding his mule. Then, the mayor’s son started shouting obscenities at him, and since he was drunk and not in his right mind, he didn’t settle for that, but stabbed the boy in the back, killing him instantly. Then, as though nothing untoward had happened, he went back to sitting with his friends and continued to enjoy himself…
Officer Sheikho immediately had him bound and dragged away along with his drinking companion as a witness; a squad of policemen was sent to fetch the other witness from Daraia and told to follow them as fast as possible. When he arrived at the commander’s office, he handed the criminal over to him along with a witness to the murder, and he informed him that the other witness would come soon. Needless to say, the commander was delighted as the mission had been completed and the crime solved, all within the space of just two and a half hours. Almost unbelievable, given that the crime had remained unsolved for so long!
Overwhelmed at this great success he immediately dashed off to advise the Pasha about the apprehension of the murderer and the details of the case.
But his elation was soon quashed by the unexpected reaction of the Pasha! Instead of being delighted that the crime had been solved the Pasha addressed the commander angrily, ‘Are you telling me that a crime that had remained unsolved for months despite the best efforts of the police force has now been resolved within two and a half hours! You must have accepted a bribe from the mayor to provide a cover for his son until I forced your hand. Have you neglected the rights of the people for the sake of money? You’re despicable and not worthy of being in the police force! Get out!’
The commander, who was in fact the head of both the army and the security forces, was shocked and confused at the Pasha’s furious reaction. What he had thought to be good news was turned against him as he became the accused! So, he said, ‘Oh, Sir! I doubt if you will believe what I have to say on this matter, but please, I’ve just one request: would you agree to hear the details of how the crime was solved directly from the officer responsible?’
Nonchalantly the Pasha said, ‘Summon him!’
The commander took his leave and went off in search of our officer M. Amin to tell him about what had occurred with the Pasha. He then asked him to go directly to the Pasha and relate the details of how the crime was solved.
With no hesitation our officer replied, ‘Yes, of course!’
Thus, they returned to the Pasha, and when Officer Sheikho began to relate the methods he had used to track down the perpetrator of the crime the Pasha seemed quite indifferent and not in the least bit interested in what he was saying. But when he described to him how he had gathered the people of the village in the public square and that he had summoned the sheikh, the mayor, and the village elders, and how he had behaved towards them, the Pasha began to pay attention to what he was saying. The more our officer spoke, the more the Pasha focused his attention on his words until the account was complete. At that point the Pasha turned to him with great interest and asked, ‘Where did you get this great strategy from?’ He added, ‘I have studied criminology and methods of uncovering criminals, in Germany, yet I have never heard about such a creative plan in this field!’
Our officer answered him, ‘From here,’ and pointed at his head.
The Pasha said, ‘Actually, such a strategy could be developed only through rational thought and through no other means.’ The Pasha’s appreciation for this officer grew more and more and they became very close. Then, our officer took his leave, and his commander was able to claim victory through the deeds of Officer Sheikho and raise his head again. The end result was that both men were favoured by the Pasha.
Our officer’s original plan on that day had been to attend Friday prayers at the mosque, and he was still able to do so as the crime had been solved in a very timely fashion.
Such are the Arrangements of Al’lah, the Almighty, who always gives chances and eases the way for everyone that seeks to draw nearer to Him through communicating, and making sacrifices for the sake of people’s comfort and happiness.