There was once a young man who was very, very pious.
In fact, he was so pious, he decided that he would fast every Monday and Thursday, all year round. And, being a disciplined young man, strong in his faith, he did exactly that.
One Thursday afternoon, some decades later when he had become an oldpious man, he went to the market to buy some dates, to break his fast for that evening, just as he had done hundreds of times before. However, the market was, like many markets in the Muslim world that Thursday, very, very busy…
So, he queued up patiently at the market, waiting to get his dates.
And, it took AGES.
The pious, religious man became gradually started becoming frustrated and was starting to feel hunger and thirst of his fast on this hot summers day.
The most annoying thing was that the man serving at the fruit stall check-out counter was stalling, taking his time, talking to each customer, cracking jokes, and most of all… he was doing everything slowly, and didn’t pay any mind to the fact that so many people were pushing ahead of him in the queue.
By now it was the late afternoon, and Maghreb time was almost upon them, and religious man still didn’t have his dates. The market was still just as hectic and he was starting to worry that he wouldn’t get home in time to break his fast properly.
Just before his turn came, the grocer at the check-out counter told him it was getting late and he had to go and take a break.
At this point, the religious man lost it. “What do you mean you’re going to take a break?! I just want to buy some dates! I’ve been queuing up for almost 2 hours! Ive been fasting every day for the last twenty years and this is the only time I’ve ever had this much trouble just trying to buy some dates!! Who do you think you are to treat me like this…?!?!”
The crowd fell silent, feeling ashamed and sorry that they pushed past him and paid no attention to this old religious man.
Then, the grocer peeked up from behind the counter and said:
“I’ll tell you exactly who I am. I am Satan. I am your sworn enemy. And you’ve been waiting 20 years to let everyone in town know that you’ve secretly been fasting. And I just gave you the perfect opportunity.”
And in one moment of lack of resilience (sabr), the poor old man threw away the spiritual gains of two decades of secret fasting.
If you want to transcend the nafs-trap that leads our sabr to run out just when you need it most, do something this pious man didn’t over all those 20 years….
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