Give this stick to the fool

By Mawlana Junayd Makda Sahib

Give this stick to the fool!

Bahlool was a very pious man living in the time of Khalifa Haroon Al Rasheed. Due to his simplicity, many did not recognise his piety and took him for a fool. People would joke around with him and sometimes use him for their amusement.

Khalifa Haroon Al Rasheed had given him access to his court, possibly for his entertainment.

Once the Khalifa gave him a walking stick saying, “This stick is reserved for the most foolish person in the world. If you find a person more deserving of it than yourself, pass it on to him.”

Several years passed and Haroon Al Rasheed fell seriously ill and no medical treatment seemed to work. Bahlool visited him and inquired about his condition. The conversation went something like this:

Haroon: “No treatment is working. I see my final journey ahead of me.”

Bahlool: “Where are you going?”

Haroon: “I am going to another World.” 

Bahlool: “How long will you stay there? When will you come back?”

Haroon: “No one ever comes back from that world.”

Bahlool: “Then you must have made special preparations for this journey. Did you send a group forward to take care of your accommodation etc. for when you reach?

Haroon: “Bahlool, you have to go there alone. And no, I have not made any preparations.”

Bahlool: “Ameer-ul-Mumineen! You used to send troops to make extensive preparations for even short trips. Now you are going to a place where you’ll live forever, but you have made no preparations! I think I have found the person more deserving of the stick that you once gave me.”

Moral:

This story speaks true for all of us. We may not be kings but we do plan our trips of even a few days very carefully. How about preparing for the journey from which there is no return? Surely, we will all be foolish unless we prepare for this long and eternal journey by doing good actions.

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