ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Bilal's Bedtime Stories (part Two) For the Sake of Allah Only During the time of Hazrat Musa, there was a pious man, who used to pray day and night on the roof of his house. One day some people came and told him that there was a garden where a tree was being worshiped by a group of people. On hearing this, the pious man picked up an axe and went to the tree with the intention of cutting and uprooting the tree.

Satan (the devil) came to him in the form of an old man and asked "What are you aiming to do?" The pious man explained what was happening and his intention to cut the tree. The satan said "what have you to do it? If God wished the tree to be cut, he would have sent his prophet to do it" The pious man did not listen. The two went on arguing and quarelling till they came to blows. He managed to knock the satan down on the floor and sat in him, aiming at cutting at his troat.

The satan begged him for his pardon and release saying, "Let me sugest you one thing which would help you in this world as well as in the next world. I shall pay you two dinars everyday. You can pay partly to the poor and partly spent on yourself. Leave this ree uncut till God commanded whether it was right or wrong to cut it" The pious man was misled by satan. He thought the sugestion was right and returned home. On the second day, he saw two dinars under his pillow.

He was delighted with the money and spent some after the poor. But on the folllowing day he did not see the money again as expected, so he again took over his axe and came at that tree. Again satan came to him in the form of an old man and asked him "what do you want to do?" He said, "I want to cut that tree". Satan told him that he had no power to do it so it was better he went home. He did not agree and again they fought.

This time the satan succeded in overpowering the pious man and knocked him down on the floor. The pious man was suprised at this and asked satan why it so happened that he could not overpower him this time. The satan replied: "whoever does a good deed purely for the pleasure of God, no one can face him but if he does it with an aim of worldly gain then he looses strength and stands to fail. Why did the pious man win on the first day and lose on the second in his fight against the Satan?

Because his first intention to cut the tree, was to please God and nothing else. But the second day, his good intention had changed and it had become for the sake of money.