Has not the time yet come for those who believe that their hearts should be humble

for the remembrance of Allah [Hadid 57:16]

- Moulana Rumi has written three stories of Sultan Mahmood Ghaznawi and Ayaaz: Sultan Mahmood was a pious king and a young villager came to his court. He was an average man (no high education, no high upbringing). He began to serve the king and quickly became the kings favorite. The senior and close attendants became extremely jealous. They couldnt understand why this simple man was preferred by the king so they asked Your highness, why do you give preferential treatment to him and not us? In honour, lineage, wealth and intellect we are superior to him, yet why dont get the same love as you give him? The king said I will give you the reply soon. The king ordered some bitter fruit and gave it to all the attendants in the court, including Ayaaz. As soon as theyd put the fruit into their mouth, theyd spit it back out and say your highness, it is extremely bitter. The king then asked Ayaaz who was happily eating the fruit if it was sweet or not. Ayaaz replied in the negative. The king then asked, Why are you still eating it then? Ayaaz gave the answer: your highness, the thought crossed my mind that the king that has been feeding me such marvellous foods for a long time, if only today I receive a bitter fruit, how dare I complain? Only if this realisation entered our minds that Allah showers us with his blessings with which we enjoy our lives, if a moment of test comes from him then why do we complain?

O mankind, remember the favor of Allah upon you. Is there any creator other than Allah who provides for you from the heaven and earth? There is no deity except Him, so how are you deluded?[Faatir 35:3]

And He gave you from all you asked of Him. And if you should count the favor of Allah, you could not enumerate them. Indeed, mankind is [generally] most unjust and ungrateful. [Ibrahim 14:34] - The king decided to give another test to the attendants. He brought out jewels and said Look how valuable and sparkly they are. He brought a hammer and ordered them all to break it. One by one the attendants would give the reply: Your highness this jewel is very expensive, it is such and such carats [in value], it is flawless therefore it should not be broken. Ayaazs turn came and when he was told to break it, he put it on the ground and smashed it into pieces. The others began smiling, thinking Ayaaz is done for. The king asked, Why did you destroy such an expensive jewel? Ayaaz responded: your highness, you gave me the order to break it. I had 2 options in front of me. (1) I could have destroyed the expensive jewel (2) I could have refused and hence destroyed your command. In my sight your command was more valuable to me than thousands of such jewels. Therefore, considering this to be less in value I broke this jewel and not your command. Look at the value Ayaaz had for the command of the king, only if we the creation have the same value for the commands of our Lord. We destroy our desires, lusts and even our wants but never the commands of Allah.

Have you seen the one who takes as his god his own desire? Then would you be responsible for him? [Furqan 25:43]

- One day, an attendant came and complained to the king that this Ayaaz guy of yours is stealing. The king asked him how he knew. He replied: he has a closet somewhere to which he goes to every morning and evening, he views its contents and then locks it up and returns. He keeps the key to himself and doesnt give it to anyone else The king immediately called Ayaaz. Ayaaz do you have a personal closet he replied Yes Do you keep it under lock and key he replied Yes Do you view its contents morning and evening he replied Yes Give me its key so Ayaaz gave it to the king. The king sent someone to bring everything that was in closet. When he went, Ayaaz stood at ease whilst the attendants were overjoyed thinking, today he has been caught; now the king will realise what a deceitful person he is. A short while passed, and the person who went to retrieve the contents of the closet opened the closet he saw