The Incident of the Mosque of Merv

“None of you (truly) believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”—Bukhari and Muslim

Abu Muhammad Azdi narrates:

When the mosque of Merv caught fire, the Muslims assumed  that it was the work of the Christians and retaliated by setting their houses ablaze.

When the king came to know of this act, he ordered those involved in the incident to be arrested and punished. He ordered that the culprits should face one of the three types of punishment—death, severing of a hand or whipping. 

Each punishment was to be written on a small piece of paper which was then placed in a box. Every guilty person was required to draw a piece from the box and would be subjected to the punishment written on it.

When one of these people picked and read his paper, he broke down in tears because his sentence was death penalty.

A young boy, who appeared to be happy as he was to be punished with lashes, asked the distressed person:

“Why are you agitated and weeping? These punishments should not be a problem in the path of serving the religion.”

The first person responded, “We have served our religion and therefore do not fear death, but the truth is that I have an old mother, and since I am her only son, she is dependent upon me. When she hears about my death, she will not survive.”

Having heard this, the youth reflected for a while and then said, “Neither is my mother alive nor do I have an attachment with anyone. Let us exchange our punishment so that I get killed instead of you and you face the lashes, after which you can return home to care for your mother.”

The two exchanged their punishment; the youth was killed, while the other person, after being lashed, returned home to his mother.

Ina lillahi wa ina ilaehi rojihun!

References:

Namunah-e-Ma’arif

Mustatraf

Anecdotes for Reflection