All the while...

All the while, the grocer and the people around him, looked on in amazement, wondering who this person was who was revered so greatly by the king. The grocer began to fear for his life. As soon as the king’s procession had passed, the grocer turned towards the stranger and said: “Brother, when exactly did you place that necklace with me? Did it have any marks?

Let me have another look, perhaps I might just be able to locate it.” The person described his necklace and the grocer, after a short search, found it. He handed it over to the person and said:“God is aware of the fact that it had simply slipped out of my mind.” Arriving before the king, the person related the entire episode to him. The king ordered the grocer to be arrested, placed the necklace around his neck and sent him to the gallows.

He then ordered the following announcement to be made all over the city: “Such is the punishment for anyone who takes possession of a trust and then denies it. O’ People!

Do take heed from this incident!” The king then returned the necklace to the stranger from Baghdad and sent him to his own city.[^5]65 Remaining Faithful when Someone Trusts you A'bdullah Ibn Sinaan says: “I approached Imam Sadiq (a.s.) in the mosque at a time when he had completed his A’sr prayers and was sitting down facing the Qiblah.

I asked him: “Some of the governors and rulers consider us to be trustworthy and thus place their wealth with us, but at the same time, they do not pay their ‘khums’. Do we return their money to them or do we keep it for our use?” The Imam (a.s.) replied three times,“By the Lord of the Ka’bah!

Even if Ibn Muljam, the murderer of my father Ali (a.s.), were to place something in trust with me, I would return it to him whenever he wanted it back.”[^6] The Shepherd and the Jews’ Sheep In the year 7 A.H., the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) with an army of one thousand and six hundred soldiers, set out to conquer the fort of Khaibar, which was about 96 miles from Madinah.

The Muslim soldiers had stationed themselves in the desert around Khaibar for sometime but the conquest of the fort remained elusive. During this period, they found themselves in a very difficult situation as far as food was concerned. The lack of food and intense hunger forced them to eat animals like horses and mules, whose meat is disapproved by Islam. In these circumstances, a black shepherd, who used to graze the sheep of the Jews, arrived in the presence of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.).