"Excuse me
Sir," she called out, as she hastened towards the gentleman that had just
left her stall.
"Excuse me
please," she called out again,
He turned to see
who was calling, while he used his hand to feel the pocket on his jeans for his
phone or wallet. He was wondering if he was called because either of them had
fallen or he had forgotten them.
"This fell
off the bowl of walnuts i had measured for you" she said, handing him the
small walnut as he looked at her in surprise.
"Oh..."
he replied. You could've just left it really"
"Well, but
it wasn't mine to keep. You paid for the full bowl.."
"& this wouldn't
have reduced..."
"But it was
a part of it...and you paid for the full measure" she cut in, before he
finished his sentence. "So it's yours," she added, "here it is
Sir, thank you"
"Thank you
too" he said, after collecting it.
He walked back to
his car still quite perplexed.
"Strange
Woman" He said to himself as he entered his car to drive away.
"Who still
does this in our era?"
He turned the
ignition to start his car, & almost immediately the Qur'an recitation he
was listening to earlier, resumed again.
It began the next
Surah, Al-Mutaffiin;
“Woe unto those who give short measure, those
who, when they are to receive their due from people, demand that it be given in
full but when they have to measure or weigh whatever they owe to others, give
less than what is due. Do they not know that they are bound to be raised from
the dead (and called to account) on an awesome Day, the Day when all men shall
stand before the Sustainer of all the worlds?” [1-6]
"SubhanAllaah..."
He said, after listening to the first six Ayahs.
"SubhanAllaah...Perhaps
these were the words that drove her actions. Perhaps these were the warnings
she feared, thinking about the day of Reckoning, while many remain heedless.
And how often do
we forget things like this?
How often do we
underestimate "little" things like giving back fully for what we are
being paid? When a job contract stipulates a number of hours but we cut it
short because everyone else is doing that or no one would notice. When we are
required to give a measure and we approximate to the lower value because the
extra digits are "insignificant"...these are all things we owe and
for which we will be called to account on the final day.
“She is certainly
among the few…” he thought. “ Who pay heed to the timeless instructions of the
Qur'an, those who hold on to its values and imbibe it's teachings in spite of
what the norm is, those who stay true to their words and dealings and would be
rewarded with Jannah Bi idhnillaah."
O Allah make us
among your faithful servants, those who are gifted with the Consciousness of
You at every moment, in every thought and action, those who Remember You, and
Seek only Your pleasure & mercy & not those who earn Your wrath. O
Allah assist us to imbibe the teachings of Your Qur'an so that it reforms us
and beautifies us and guides us, forgive us where we fall short, guide us to
only do that which you love and avoid that which you don't. Help us to
recognize the right things to do and enable us to carry them out & help us
to recognize the wrong things to do and enable us to avoid them."
“And O
Allah," He smiled thoughtfully.
He wasn't going
to finish his du'a without praying for the one who inspired it.
"Bless this
woman & put Your blessings in her work and increase her in everything good.
Aameen."
