The Lesson from the Son

A father of a wealthy family took his son on a trip to the village, with the firm purpose of showing his son how poor people live and how rich they were.

They spent a couple of days and nights on a farm with what would be considered a very poor family. On their return from their trip, the father asked his son, “How was the trip?” “It was great, Dad.” “Did you see how poor people can be?” the father asked. “Yes” said the son. “So what did you learn from the trip?” asked the father.

The son answered, “I saw that we have one dog and they had four. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of our garden and they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden and they have the stars at night”.

“Our patio reaches to the front yard and they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on and they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants who serve us, but they serve others. We buy our food, but they grow theirs. We have walls around our property to protect us, they have friends to protect them.”

After hearing the son’s thoughts, the father was speechless. Then his son added, “Thanks dad, for showing me how ungrateful we truly are.”

You can have all the material possessions that can be imagined, but if you are poor of Spirit, you have nothing! Too many times we forget what we have, and concentrate on what we don’t have.

Our position today is that we make so many plans for the future, what we going to buy, what we will drive, where will we live, how well off we will be compared to our neighbours etc. yet we are headless of what we have prepared for the hereafter.

Imagine if the Angel of Death has our name written on his list today yet we are too busy trying to impress everyone as to how well we are doing.

Our Beloved Prophet (S.A.W) has said, “Richness does not lie in the abundance of worldly goods, but richness is the richness of the soul, heart, and self”. (Bukhari, Muslim)

“If one is satisfied with small provision from Allah (S.W.T), Allah (S.W.T) will be satisfied with a few good deeds from him”. (Al-Bayhaqi, Mishkat Shareef)

The Messenger of Allah (S.A.W) once came out before the people one evening and said,” O people! Are you not ashamed before Allah?” “How should that be, O Messenger of Allah?” they asked. He (S.A.W) replied, “You gather in what you shall never accomplish, and build what you shall never inhabit”. ( Bayhaqi)