Hamdi’s Quest
Insha Allah this story should help us to understand more clearly, how the test of Allah (swt) and His trial to us (mankind) work’s magnificently and in mysterious ways, especially for those who are patience and in constant remembrance of Him (Allah swt)
Luqman seriously took this passage from the Holy Qur’an to make the foundation of his lifestyle.
Al-Qur’an chapter 46 verse 15:
We have enjoined on man kindness to his parents: In pain did his mother bear him, and in pain did she give him birth. The carrying of the (child) to his weaning is (a period of) thirty months. At length, when he reaches the age of full strength and attains forty years, he says, “O my Lord! Grant me that I maybe grateful for Thy favor which Thou has bestowed upon me, and upon both my parents, and that I may work righteousness such as Thou mayest approve; and be gracious to me in my issue. Truly have I turned to Thee and truly do I bow (to Thee) in Islam.” 046:015
Luqman adores his parents, he never want to see them in any kind of sadness, so he used to be very jolly and cheerful around them, and he also used to constantly pray to Allah (swt) with the prayer from the above Qur’anic verse.
Luqman had a very good friend named Fouzull, they were like brothers and both of them were very obedient and loving to their parents, Fouzull was three years older than Luqman. It so happened that both of Fouzull parents got killed in a car accident and his relatives took him away to a another city to live with them for he was only fifteen years old.
As time went by they both grew up, got married and eventually they had a family of their own. Luqman family consisted of his wife named Noorjehan and one daughter named Adeeba while Fouzull family consisted of his wife named Isha and one son named Hamdi.
Adeeba (Luqman’s daughter) was the most beautiful girl in the district, her mother Noorjehan used to worry over her daughter, fearing that boys may go after her on account of her beauty and take advantage of her. Luqman being a very God fearing man said to his wife in a very humble way, “You should pray for her protection from the Shaitaan and put your trust in Allah (swt).”
While they were talking they heard Adeeba yelling for help, they both rushed to her side, she was hanging out clothes to dry in their back yard and was bitten by a snake. They rushed her to the hospital, the doctors managed to extract the poison but she was blind through the poison, the doctors said her blindness might not be permanent, but it is up to Allah (swt).
Luqman said to his wife, “Your fear now becomes a test for us and our daughter; she would have to exercise patience and faith in Allah (swt), and we as parents have to continue to be constant in our prayers and patience as well, for now hardly anyone will take notice of her because of her ill luck. Through her misfortune you (my dear wife) would have to learn to put all your faith and trust in Allah (swt) and you would not succeed in doing so until you go in sincere repentance.”
And now on the other hand Fouzull had his own problems, his son (Hamdi) grew up to be very disrespectful and mischievous, the very opposite of his father. (It is not uncommon to see at least one child from a righteous family turn out to be disrespectful, this is because the Shaitaan is unable to get through to the righteous parents, so he prey’s on the ones whose faith are weaker, usually their children so as to bring shame and disgrace to their parents, and this is exactly the case with Fouzull and Isha.)
It is mentioned in the Holy Qur’an:
But (there is one) who says to his parents, “Fie on you! Do ye hold out the promise to me that I shall be raised up, even though generations have passed before me (without rising again)?” And they too seek Allah’s (swt) Almighty aid, (and rebuke the son), “Woe to thee! Have faith! For the promise of Allah (swt) Almighty is true.” But he says, “This is nothing but tales of the ancients!” Chapter 46 verse 17:
Even though Hamdi was disrespectful to his parents, he was very kind and pure-hearted for the poor especially for the people that are blind. From a very young age Fouzull taught his son to recite this little prayer:
Rabba-na habla-na min az-wa jayna, wa-thurriyyatena, qur-ra-ta ah-yunin waj Aalna lil-mutaa- qeena imaman.
O Lord! Grant unto us wives and offspring, who will be the comfort of our eyes, and give us (the grace) to lead the righteous.025:074
Hamdi used to recite this prayer every day, one day his mother heard him reciting the prayer, she turned to him and told him, “If it wasn’t for your blindness and your disrespectful ways towards us, Allah (swt) would have answered your prayer already.” He got very upset at his mother and he went to his father and said to him, “You guys always keep telling me that I am blind, and you both know how I feel towards blind people, as from today I would pray for a blind wife, so that you and mom cannot rebuke me any more.”
His father said to him, “May Allah (swt) grant you your wish.” Hamdi said to his father, “If Allah (swt) should answer my prayer it would be because of the both of you, who pushed me into it.
Due to the fear of Hamdi temper, Fouzull had a heart attack and Hamdi grab hold of his father as he collapsed, he then rushed him to the hospital. After his father was admitted and taken care of, he went home to tell his mother what happened. In her state of shock she said to him, “I knew your ill temper and blindness to all of the righteous work your father and I are engage in would cause one of us our death and you still wouldn’t change your life style.” Upon hearing this Hamdi grab hold of his mother and pushed her away from talking to him, she fell and hit her head on a rock which put her in a coma. With both of his parents in the hospital he couldn’t bear the grief and the guilty feelings he were enduring, so he decided to run away. He wanders far away from home to another city (it so happened he ended up in the same city his father came from, but he was not aware of it).
One day (about a month later) he saw a blind man trying to cross the streets; he decided to help the old man, after he safely cross the streets the blind man thanked him and requested a favour from him, which he agreed. The blind man asked him to go to his daughter (who lived about seventeen miles away) to collect some things for him, he promised the old man to do exactly what he wanted.
The old man said, “You are indeed a kind person, what can I give you in return? I have three wishes I can grant you for being so kind.” Hamdi said, “Okay! My first wish is for my parents to have a speedy recovery, my second wish is to become materially and spiritually rich and my third wish is, I always recite a prayer since childhood, I know it is very important to my parents, for anytime I fight with them I would recite it as a means to say sorry to them, since we are poor I cannot afford to buy any gift for them, this little prayer would always put a smile on their faces, so I would like Allah (swt) to accept this prayer of my supplication.
The old man said, “By the will of Allah (swt) all of your wishes can be fulfilled if you have patience and is prepared to work for it.” Hamdi said, “If it takes me the rest of my life to work for it, I would gladly do so for I want to make up to my parents for all the troubles I put them through.” The old man said, “Listen carefully and do exactly what I tell you, you have to travel by foot to reach my daughter, on your way you will pass through a land of beautiful trees, among one of them there is a hidden treasure awaiting you, so be on your way.” Hamdi thanked the old man and began his journey, it took him three days to reach his destination. The first day he didn’t get too far, he was bitten by a snake which he had to suck out the poison and this made him weak to travel so he rested under a tree.
The next day he started walking and as night was steeping in, he was feeling cold and hungry so he decided to climb a tree with lots of fruits which he ate to his fill, he decided to rest under the very tree, on his way down from the tree his feet fell into a hole and he broke three of his toes, in pain and anguish he realize this is nothing in comparison to the pain he caused upon his parents, he started to cry bitterly and prayed to Allah (swt) repenting for his wrong doings.
After he finished and was relaxing under the tree, he started to remember whenever he would oppress his parents to indulge with him in his material gain; his father would quote these verses from the Holy Qur’an:
Wealth and sons are allurements of the life of this world: But the things that endure, good deeds, are best in the sight of thy Lord, as rewards, and best as (the foundation for) hopes. Chapter 18 verse 46.
“And Allah (swt) doth advance in guidance those who seek guidance: and the things that endure, Good Deeds, are best in the sight of thy Lord as rewards, and best in respect of (their) eventual return. “Chapter 19 verse 76.
These two verses are now his reality, he then raised his hands and prayed to his Lord again seeking His forgiveness and health to accomplish his task, and he then fell asleep. The next day he continued his journey, after about one hour of walking he saw the land of the beautiful trees, there were approximately five hundred trees, he walked to the middle of the land and started to search for the treasure, three hours later he saw an old box and decided to lie down on it to rest. As he was lying down he remembered his mother used to say to him, that he must always do things for the pleasures of Allah (swt), and always put Allah (swt) and His beloved Prophet Muhammad (owbp) in front of any material wealth or pleasures.
After resting for a short while he sat up, telling himself that his mother advice is more precious to him than this wealth that he is looking for, so he would give up looking for it, fulfill the old man request and go home to take care of his parents. As he was getting up to leave his pants got hooked on a nail from the box, he pulled the pants so hard that the cover flew open and to his big surprise he saw the treasure. Immediately he went into prostration giving thanks to Allah (swt), he then sat down for about two hours thinking back of how important it is to communicate with your children, realizing how much his parents advices became (all of a sudden) very vital and important to him, (which) through all his difficulties helped to bring peace and comfort to him, he was even more surprised of himself remembering some of his parents advices, because he was always in a rush to ignore them. He then got up and said, “O my Lord! My mother always advice me to do things for your pleasure, so today I am about to do just that, if it is your will that I should take this treasure, I will certainly do so to please you, but first I wish to fulfill my promise to the old man, so I am leaving the treasure with you and after my task is over I will come back for it. If the treasure is not here when I come back, please know, I would be a changed man regardless and I would consider my parents advice more valuable than the treasure, and if you consider my parents as your faithful servants then please protect this box for them, they deserve a little happiness in their lives, unto you O! Allah (swt) I put all my trust.”
Hamdi then continued on his journey, shortly afterwards he arrived at the house where the old man sent him, he knock on the door and a man opened the door, they exchange greetings and the man invited him in, he then asked Hamdi the purpose of his visit. He said, “My name is Hamdi, an old man (probably the father of your wife) asked me to come here to pick up some things for him.” Luqman (the owner of the house) said, “My wife parents died a long time ago and my parents are here with me, what things were you asked to pick up?” Hamdi replied, “The old man said you would know.” Luqman said, “I really don’t know who send you and I don’t know what things you were asked to pick up, but I can see that you are very tired and hungry, so please sit down and I would get my wife to prepare a hot meal for you.” As Noorjehan was preparing the meal, he decided to ask Hamdi a few questions, to make sure he could trust him. Luqman told Hamdi his name and asked him to tell him more of the old man he met, Hamdi said, “I really don’t know the man, all I did was to help him to cross the street for he was blind, it is indeed a mystery and I cannot figure out the reason, but my obedience to this blind old man got me here. I am indeed tired for I had a tough time getting here, he particular asked me to come by foot through the path of the jungle. I never suffered so much in my life, but my parent’s advice kept me going. ” Luqman said, “Your parents must be very God fearing people.” Hamdi replied, “Indeed they are and I can’t wait to go home to them.” Luqman asked again, “Why did you make all of this sacrifice for this old man?” Hamdi replied, “I have a very soft spot in my heart for the people who are blind, I can go a mountain height to the skies for them.” As they were talking Adeeba (Luqman’s daughter) came out of her room to go to the kitchen for some water, Hamdi saw her and immediately fell in love with her, and he asked Luqman about the girl. Luqman said, “She is my precious daughter and you may notice that she is blind as well.” Hamdi asked, “Did you get an offer for her?” Luqman said, “No one desire a blind wife, also the people here are very poor and he don’t want to marry her to someone who will not be able to take care of her.” Hamdi asked, “What if someone really loves her and is prepared to make sacrifices to take good care of her, regardless of their poorness?” Luqman said, “Love is not enough to look after a blind person, but if such a person is prepared to make the sacrifices to take care of her, then he would surely consider the offer.” Hamdi said, “By Allah’s (swt) will your daughter would get married to someone who would take care of her and he would have some wealth as well.” Luqman said, “May Allah (swt) answer your prayer.” This caused Hamdi to reflect back to his father’s answer after he told his father he would pray for a blind wife. He then said to Luqman, “My father had a long last friend who got separated from each other when they were young, and from the great stories he used to relate to me, this friend is quite similar to you, both of you have a lot in common, and I do feel very close to you as I did with my father.” Luqman asked, “What is your father’s name?” Hamdi replied, “Fouzull” Luqman said, “I had a childhood friend by that name, but he moved far away to live with his relatives after his parents died in a car accident.”
Hamdi exclaimed, “Allahu-Akbar, my father is indeed your long last friend.” Luqman grabbed Hamdi and he hugged him with great happiness and said, “I now understand why you were sent to me, the old man is a pious jinn and through our prayers (your father and I), you were sent to unite us and the reason you were told to take the path through the jungle, is for you to exercise patience. Your love for the blind is used as vehicle for you to meet your future wife, who is no other than my beautiful and faithful daughter if you desire. So please make yourself at home, have some rest and Insha Allah I will contact your parents tomorrow.
The next day Hamdi told Luqman, “I know that you are very eager to meet my parents, but please trust me, I have some important things that I have to take care of, so I will leave now and Insha Allah, I will send for all of you in a few weeks.”
He thanked them for their kindness and he left, he went back for the box with the wealth and found it exactly how he left it, he prayed to Allah (swt) and thanked Him for protecting the box for his parents and for helping him through all his difficult times of the great ordeal he went through. He took the box and made his way back home. His parents (Fouzull and Isha) were very happy to see him; they hug him with great joy. Hamdi said, “I am indeed happy to see both of you in good health and I wish to apologize for all the wrong things I did to you, I beg of you to please forgive me, also I have some good news for both of you.” They said, “Seeing you are good news to us.” Hamdi said, “I wish to thank you both for loving me so much, I was indeed blind to your love, no son could asked for better parents, it was your love and kindness that caused me to change my lifestyle, in return I prayed to Allah (swt) for just a little wealth for your happiness in this world, for I do know that Jannat is awaiting your arrival in the next world.” Hamdi gave them the box of wealth and they said, “Son we do appreciate this gift but it is too much for us, you must give some of it to the poor.” Hamdi smiled and said, “I know this would be your reply and for sure I am going to give some of it to the poor, then I will buy a house for me, a better house for you and another house for someone else.” Fouzull asked, “Who is the other person?” Hamdi said, “I have found someone very special to you, it’s your long last friend Luqman.” His father was in great shock, he could not believe what he was hearing, his father asked, “How did you find him? You don’t even know him.” Hamdi said with a smile, “It’s a long story, sit down and I will tell you everything.” After explaining the most remarkable event in his life, Fouzull and his wife Isha said, “Our dear son, we are indeed very proud of you, this is the happiest day of our lives, we should celebrate by giving thanks to Allah (swt). They prayed by reciting the following verse from the Holy Qur’an:
On no soul doth Allah (swt) Place a burden greater than it can bear. It gets every good that it earns, and it suffers every ill that it earns. (Pray:) “Our Lord! Condemn us not if we forget or fall into error; our Lord! Lay not on us a burden Like that which Thou didst lay on those before us; Our Lord! Lay not on us a burden greater than we have strength to bear. Blot out our sins, and grant us forgiveness. Have mercy on us. Thou art our Protector; Help us against those who stand against faith. “Chapter 2 verse 286.
Thank you O! Allah (swt) for all your kind favors, and help us to avoid the whisper of the Shaitaan.
After this prayer they all decided to go and pay a visit to Luqman and his family, it was a joyful re-union of two pious families, they had a wonderful time. Hamdi got married to Adeeba, and by the will of Allah (swt) one year later Adeeba was blessed with her eyesight again.
Fouzull and Luqman remain very close to each other for the rest of their lives. Hamdi became very righteous like his father and he was blessed with five sons and one daughter and they all lived happily after.
Here are some lessons that should be noted and to be taken in serious considerations, so that we can manage to steer our children lives on the right path.
- When fear of something comes to our mind, we should overcome it with the remembrance of Allah (swt).
- Noorjehan fear for her daughter turned out to be tragic but to Hamdi’s favour by Allah’s (swt) will. Allah (swt) preserved Adeeba for Hamdi through her blindness.
- Allah (swt) led Hamdi on a journey to discipline him, so that he can become a righteous person, because of his love for his parents (even though he was disrespectful to them) and the soft feelings he had for the blind.
- Hamdi’s journey through the jungle was for him to exercise patience.
- The prayer that he recited always is very important for every boy to learn.
- Hamdi willingness to help the old man even before the three wishes was gifted to him. He asked for material and spiritual wealth, as well for his childhood prayers be answered, his willingness to please his parents, and the great sacrifice he made to achieved it.
- We learn how communication with words of wisdom to children does help them through difficult times in their lives. (Even if they are playing deaf ears at the moment of our advice, we should ignore their attitudes and continue to advice them with words of wisdom. Allah (swt) will be pleased with us and He would also help our children to remember our advice and pay heed to it when they really need it.
- Hamdi great ordeal was to enable him to purify his heart and to change his lifestyle, for he was indeed spiritually blind.
- Hamdi acknowledges his mother advice to do things to please Almighty Allah (swt). Indeed we all must always do things to please Almighty Allah (swt), and in return He would make us happy. May Almighty Allah (swt) help us all to do what pleases Him. Ameen.
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