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During the time of Prophet Musa, there was a pious man, who used
to pray day and night on the roof of his house. One day some
people came and told him that there was a garden where a tree
was being worshipped by a group of people. On hearing this the
pious man picked up an axe and went to that tree with the
intention of cutting and uprooting it altogether.
Satan (the Devil) came to him in the form of an old man and
asked: "What are you aiming to do?" The pious man
explained what was happening and his intention to cut the tree.
Satan said: "What have you to do with it? If God wished the
tree to be cut, he would have sent his Prophet to do it."
The pious man did not listen. The two went on arguing and
quarrelling till they came to blows. He managed to knock the
Satan down on the floor and sat on him, aiming at cutting his
throat. The Satan begged him for pardon and release saying,
"Let me suggest you one thing which would help you in this
world as well as in the next world. I shall pay you two dinars
everyday. You can pay partly to the poor and partly spend for
your own self. Leave this tree uncut till God commanded whether
it was right or wrong to cut it."
The pious man was misled by the Satan. He thought the suggestion
was right and returned home. On the second day, he saw two
dinars under his pillow. He was delighted with the money and
spent some after the poor. But on the following day, he did not
see the money again as expected, so he again took over his axe
and came at that tree. Again Satan told him in the form of an
old man and asked him, "What do you want to do?" He
said, "I want to cut that tree." Satan told him that
he had no power to do it so it was better he went back home. He
did not agree and again they fought. This time the Satan
succeeded in overpowering the pious man and knocked him down on
the floor.
The pious man was surprised at this and asked Satan why it so
happened that he could not overpower him this time. The Satan
replied: "Whoever does a good deed purely for the pleasure
of God, no one can face him but if he does it with an aim of
worldly gain, then he loses strength and stands to fail."
Why did the pious man win on the first day and lose on the
second in his fight against the Satan? Because his first
intention to cut the tree, was to please God and nothing else.
But the second day, his good intention had changed and it had
become for the sake of money. So the God given spiritual
strength which he had on the first day had then disappeared and
so he lost.
During the time of Prophet Muhammad (s), his enemies - ten
thousand strongmen, once planned to attack him. The Muslims were
then but very few. Having received the secret news of what was
about to happen, the Muslims dug a very wide ditch around them
for their defense so that the enemy may not attack them all of a
sudden.
From the enemy side, a warrior by name 'Amr Bin Abd-e-wadd' who
was very famous for his strength, courage and art of fighting,
landed in the midst of these Muslims by jumping over the ditch!
The Muslims lacked the courage to face him. Only the lion of
Allah, Imam Ali (a) came forward to challenge the intruder!
Both drew their swords and were soon locked in a fierce duel to
death against each other. At last, Allah bestowed victory to
Imam Ali (a) who threw Amr down on the ground and mounted on his
chest ready to kill the arch-enemy of Islam, but before Imam Ali
(a) could do this, Amr spat in the face of our Imam.
Everybody around was certain that as a result of this insult,
Amr would meet his death even faster still. But instead Imam Ali
(a) moved from Amr's chest and walked away! People around were
too surprised to see why he left loose such a dangerous enemy
after overpowering him. Amr attacked again and after a short
while, Imam Ali (a) again got control over him and this time he
killed the enemy of Islam.
After the battle was over, people asked Imam Ali (a) about the
reason why he had spared Amr's life when he first got control
over him Imam Ali (a) replied, "I wanted to kill him for
the sake of Allah only. He spat on me and thus made me angry.
Had I killed him at that moment, it would not have been for the
sake of Allah only. It would have also been for the satisfaction
of my anger. So I let him free. When I controlled my anger, I
killed him purely for the sake of Allah.'
This is how the Ahlul Bait - people of the household of our Holy
Prophet. have set examples of sincere intention. Before any
action we take, we must be clear in our minds that the action is
in accordance with the commands of Allah. That, it is for his
sake and pleasure alone.
To keep away from insincere and impure intentions is indeed
difficult but not impossible. This can be done by constant
thinking and true understanding of the aim of our life. We have
to understand what Allah really wants from us.
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