The Turner of Hearts
In the age of sultans and viziers there once lived a poor but pious shaykh and a vizier who feared Allah. The fact that the shaykh was poor did not concern him, he was satisfied with whatever Allah sent him.
The shaykh was wise and knew that Allah rewards those who give charity in His Name receive a very handsome reward — a reward far greater than anyone can imagine. It was not the shaykh’s custom to ask anyone for help, but one day he really needed help so he decided to visit the vizier and ask for his help.
Without hesitation the good hearted vizier instructed his wakeel to give the shaykh 50 dirhams, which was quite a lot of money in those days.
The next week the shaykh needed more help so he went to visit the vizier and asked his help once again. When the vizier saw the shaykh he was taken aback and exclaimed “Shaykh, I gave you 50 dirhams only last week!”
The shaykh accepted the vizier’s decision and started to leave. As he left it seemed to the vizier that the shaykh was muttering something disagreeable about him to himself, however, he could not hear exactly what he was saying and said “Shaykh, aren’t you ashamed to speak against me?”
The shaykh was taken by surprise. It had not occurred to him that the vizier should think that he would do such a thing and told him that it was not so, and that he was remembering Allah saying: “O You, the Turner of hearts and eyes.”
The vizier felt ashamed of himself for thinking that the shaykh would do such a thing and quickly called for his quill and paper. His assistant handed him the quill and paper and the vizier started to write: “Give the shaykh 50 dirhams,” but instead of writing “dirhams” he wrote “dinars” — which is a lot more money.
As the shaykh thanked the vizier he did not notice what was written on the paper and took the note to the wakeel for payment.
When the wakeel read the note both he and the shaykh were surprised when he read aloud “Pay the shaykh 50 dinars,” so the wakeel asked the shaykh what he had sold the vizier. The shaykh told him that he had not sold him anything and told him what had happened.
Now the wakeel thought he had better check with the vizier before giving the shaykh such a large amount of money, so he went to the vizier to show him what he had written.
When the vizier read the note he smiled and said “His supplication has been answered, the shaykh called upon ‘He who causes hearts to turn.’ The Turner of hearts has turned both the heart and pen, therefore give him the 50 dinars.”
by Khadijah Stephens
Courtesy: www.everymuslim.co.za
