Thursday, August 18, 2011

The Story of the Boy and the King

Suhaib reported that Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said:

There lived a king before you and he had a (court) magician. As he (the magician) grew old, he said to the king:

"I have grown old, send a young boy to me so that I should teach him magic. The king sent to him a young boy so that he should train him (in magic)".

And on his way (to the magician) the young boy found a monk sitting there. The boy listened to the monk's talk and was impressed by it. It became his habit that on his way to the magician he met the monk and set there and he came to the magician (late).

The magician would beat him because of this delay. The young man made a complaint of that to the monk and the monk said to him:

When you feel afraid of the magician, say: "Members of my family had kept me busy. And when you feel afraid of your family you should say: The magician kept me busy."

It so happened that there came a huge creature (animal) and it blocked the way of the people, and the young boy said: I will come to know today whether the magician is superior or the monk is superior. He picked up a stone and said:

"O Allah, if the deeds and actions of the monk are liked by You better than those of the sorcerer, then kill this creature so that the people can cross (the road)."

He threw that stone towards it and killed it and the people began to move about (on the path freely). The young boy then came to that monk and informed him and the monk said:

O my son! Today you are better than I. You have achieved what I see! And you will be put to trial. And in case you are put in trial, do not inform (them) about me."


The young boy began to treat the blind and those suffering from leprosy and he in fact began to cure people from (all kinds) of illness. When a blind courtier of the king heard about the boy, he came to him with numerous gifts and said:

"If you cure me, all these things collected together here would be yours."

The boy replied: "I myself do not cure anyone. It is Allah Who cures and if you affirm faith in Allah, I shall also supplicate Allah to cure you."

He affirmed his faith in Allah and Allah cured him and he came to the king and sat by his side as he used to sit before. The king said to him: Who restored your eyesight? He said: My Lord. Thereupon the King said: "It means that your Lord is One besides me". The courtier replied: "My Lord and your Lord is Allah."

So the King took hold of him and tormented him till he gave a clue of that boy. The young boy was thus summoned and the king said to him: "O boy, it has been conveyed to me that you have become so much proficient in your magic that you cure the blind and those suffering from leprosy and you do such and such things".

Thereupon the boy said: "I do not cure anyone; it is Allah Who cures".

The King took hold of him and began to torment him. So he gave a clue of the monk. The monk was thus summoned and it was said to him: "Give up your religion". He, however, refused to do so. The King (ordered) for a saw to be brought, he placed it in the middle of the monk's head and swan till he fell, cut in two pieces.

Then the courtier was brought and it was said to him: "Give up your religion". He refused to do so, and the saw was placed in the midst of his head and swan till he fell, cut in two pieces.

Then that young boy was brought and it was said to him: "Give up your religion". He refused to do so and he was handed over to a group of the King's courtiers. The King said to them: "Take him to such and such mountain; make him climb up that mountain and when you reach its top (ask him to renounce his faith) but if he refuses to do so, then throw him (down the mountain)".

So they took him and made him climb up the mountain and the boy said: "O Allah! Save me from them in any way You wish!"

So the mountain began to quake and they all fell down and the boy came walking to the King. The King said to him: "What has happened to your companions?" The boy said: "Allah has saved me from them".

The King then ordered some of his courtiers to take the boy on board a boat into the middle of the sea, saying, "Then if he does not renounce his religion throw him into the sea".

So they took him and he said: "O Allah! Save me from them by anything You wish"

So the boat capsized and they were drowned. The boy came walking to the king, and the king said to him: "What has happened to your companions?" The boy said: "Allah has saved me from them", and he further said to the king: "You cannot kill me until you do what I ask you to do".

The King said: "What is that?" The boy said: "Gather all the people in a upland place and fasten me to a stem of a tree. Then take hold of an arrow from the quiver and say: In the name of Allah, the Lord of the worlds; then shoot an arrow and if you do that then you would be able to kill me".

So the king gathered the people in an upland place and tied the boy to the trunk of a tree, then he took hold of an arrow from his quiver and then placed the arrow in the bow and then said: "In the name of Allah, the Lord of the young boy"; and shot the arrow.

The boy placed his hands upon the temple where the arrow had hit him and he died and the people said: "We have believed in the Lord of this young boy, we have believed in the Lord of this young boy, we believe in the Lord of this young boy!".

The courtiers came to the king and it was said to him: "This is the thing you were afraid of. By Allah! The thing which you were afraid of, has fallen upon you, the people have believed (in Allah)."


So the king commanded ditches to be dug at the entrances of the roads. When these ditches were dug, and the fire was lit in them it was said (to the people): He who would not turn back from this boy's religion would be thrown in the fire or it would be said to them to jump in that. (The people courted death but did not renounce religion) till a woman came with her child and she felt hesitant in jumping into the fire and the child said to her: 0 mother, endure (this ordeal) for it is the Truth. (So she threw herself in the ditch of the fire along with her child to be with the martyrs in Paradise).



Verily, those who believe and do righteous good deeds, for them will be Gardens under which rivers flow (Paradise). That is the great success.
{Al-Buruj, 85:11}



SOURCE:
Sahih Muslim



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