Four Traits

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Authentic sources narrate from Imam Ar-Ridha’ (as) that, “Allah sent a revelation to one of His Prophets (as) that’ when you stir out tomorrow morning, you must eat the first thing that comes in your view!. Secondly, whatever you see, hide it away. Thirdly, whatever presents itself to you, accept it. Fourthly, Whatever comes before you, don’t d’Isappoint it! Fifthly, run away from the thing.’ At dawn the Prophet stirred out. The first thing that met his eyes was a mountain. He wondered that Allah has ordered him to eat the first thing that he saw. He again thought that if he had no ability to do the thing, Allah would not have ordered him to do it.

With this thought he went nearer the mountain to eat it. The nearer he went, the smaller the mountain became. When he touched the mountain, it was the size of a morsel. The Prophet ate it and found it very delicious. The Prophet went a little further and noticed a tray made of gold. Since he was under instructions to hide it, the Prophet dug a small pit and buried the tray in the ground. He proceeded a little further.

When he turned back, he noticed the golden tray jutting out a little from the ground. He thought, I have fulfilled Allah’s order about the tray and that he had no more concern about it. Travelling a little further, the Prophet found a bird flying. He also found a hawk hot in pursuit of the bird. The bird sought the Prophet’s protection from the hawk. The Prophet therefore opened his sleeve for the bird to take refuge there. The hawk approached the Prophet and complained that it was trying to hunt the bird for quite sometime and that now he was depriving it of its food. The Prophet was under instructions not to disappoint anyone. Therefore he carved a portion of the flesh from his own loin and gave to the hawk.

The Prophet went a little further and noticed a putrifying animal carcass. Vermin were crawling out of the carcass. He was under instructions to run away from it. Therefore the Prophet moved away from there and proceeded towards his home. In the night he dreamed that Allah was saying,’ O my Prophet! You have done whatever I had instructed you to do! But you didn’t realize what these things were in reality?’ The Prophet said, ‘Yes! I don’t know.’ Allah replied, ‘O my Prophet! The mountain that you saw was the human trait of anger. When a person gets angry, he goes out of control and forgets himself. But, if he controls his anger, then the result will be like the delicious morsel that you consumed! The golden tray was an example of good deeds. However much you hide them, Allah exposes them to view that you get respect in this world and Reward in the Hereafter. The example of the bird and the hawk is that when someone seeks help from you, don’t d’Isappoint him. The example of the putrifying carcass is like back-biting and carrying of tales which must be avoided.’”

Reference :Ain-Al Hayat, The Essence of Life