Shaikh Abur Rabee’ (rahimahullah) relates the following incident:
I once heard of a very pious lady by the name of Fidh-dhah who lived in a certain village. This woman, Fidh-dhah, was rapidly gaining fame as word of an amazing phenomenon regarding her spread among people. Although we do not visit women, due to the necessity to investigate and ascertain the reality and authenticity of this rumour, I took a group of people and travelled to her village.
On arriving in the village and making enquiries, the people of the village informed us that Fidh-dhah possessed a she goat that yielded both milk and honey. Hearing this, we bought a brand new bowl and proceeded to her home.
On arriving, we greeted her with salaam and said, “We wish to witness the barakah (blessing) of your goat.” Fidh-dhah obliged and made the goat over to us. After receiving the goat, we began milking it and as it was reputed, both milk and honey flowed from the teats of the goat!
After enjoying the milk and honey, we asked Fidh-dhah to tell us the secret to the special barakah (blessing) she and her family enjoyed from the goat. In response, she mentioned the following story to me:
There was a time when we were very poor and possessed nothing except a small she goat. When ‘Eidul Adha arrived, my husband, who was a pious man, said to me, “We own nothing except this she goat. Let us sacrifice it for ‘Eid in the name of Allah Ta‘ala.” I replied, “Don’t slaughter it as we need it. Allah Ta‘ala has not made it necessary for us to sacrifice an animal for ‘Eid in circumstances of such poverty.”
Coincidentally, a guest arrived on that very Day of ‘Eid and we had no food with which to entertain him. I thus said to my husband, “Allah Ta‘ala has instructed us to honour our guests by entertaining them and seeing to their comfort. Let us slaughter this she goat for our guest.” As my husband prepared to slaughter the goat, I said to him, “You should slaughter it outside the house, behind the wall, so that the sight of its slaughter does not distress our children and cause them to cry.”
My husband thus took the goat and made his way out of the yard to slaughter it. However, while he was meant to be slaughtering it, I saw the goat jump onto the wall and re-enter the yard. Thinking that the goat had escaped, I went outside and saw that my husband had already slaughtered our goat and was now in the process of skinning it! I exclaimed to him, “How strange! Another she goat, resembling our own, has entered our yard!” Hearing this, my husband said, “Perhaps Allah Ta‘ala has granted us a goat which is better.”
Whereas our first goat yielded only milk, this second goat yields both milk and honey! This special barakah which we enjoy was granted to us on account of us honouring our guest.
Fidh-dhah then advised saying, “This goat grazes in the pasture of the heart. If you sow goodness and righteousness in your hearts, it will graze on good and its milk will accordingly be wholesome and good. Conversely, spoiling your hearts and filling them with filth and muck causes the milk of the goat to spoil and turn bad. Therefore, ensure that you guard your hearts from evil, then everything will be of benefit to you.”
(Rowdhur Rayyaaheen pg. 93)
Lessons:
1. Honouring the guest is not only a command of sharee‘ah, but is also a means of securing tremendous barakah (blessings) in one’s life and home.
2. When a person sacrifices something that is dear to him for the sake of Allah Ta‘ala, then Allah Ta‘ala most certainly rewards him with something far better.
3. The heart is the ‘nucleus’ of the entire body. If the heart is filled with piety and righteousness, then acts of piety and righteousness will emanate from the limbs of the body. If the heart is contaminated with sin and evil, then the limbs will carry out acts of sin, immorality and shamelessness. Hence, to get all the limbs of the body under control, one will have to make an effort to purify the heart.
