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Bilal was the slave of a rich man in Maccah. He had never had a chance to know his home in Africa because he had been kidnapped and sold into slavery as a child, and he could not remember the long journey to Maccah so that he could never try to find out what had happened to his parents, brothers and sisters, and friends. He had quickly learned to speak Arabic well, except that there were a few sounds that he would never be able to pronounce properly. Living with his rich master, he did have enough to eat and clothes to wear, but being a slave, he also had to work hard and could not leave the city without his master's permission. Besides, a slave could not get married or own money without his master's permission, and when he was beaten by his master he could not accuse him in a court of justice.
In the course of time, Bilal had got used to the life im Maccah and his work. He ran errands for his master and helped loading and unloading the camels when goods arrived or were dispatched. In the evening, he met the friends he had found among the slaves. Then they sat together at the fire and told each other experiences and stories they remembered from their childhood or from their jouney to Maccah, or what they had heard at their work during the day.
One night, one of the slaves told a great news. He had heard that Muhammad, a merchant who was known all over the city for his honesty, sincerity and generosity, had told his friends and relatives of a wonderful experience and that he was supposed to teach people a message from God. "Just imagine," said the slave, "Muhammad says that there is only one God, and we needn't be scared of other visible or invisible beings. He also says that God commands people to be just." "That would be nice," retorted another slave, "but the rich and powerful are not going to listen anyway. They always want to keep everything to themselves and grab every opportunity to rule." "That's right," said the first one. "The rich men already started to ridicule the new message. But Muhammad says that God will sit for judgement in the end, and then the good and just people will be rewarded and the bad and unjust ones will be punished. All people in the world will be made to stand before His judgement seat, and even the dead will be raised up for it."
This night, Bilal went home thoughtfully. All slaves knew Muhammad. He had always taken the side of the poor and oppressed. When he married the merchant's widow Khadijah fifteen years ago, they both had released all their male and females slaves, and Muhammad had adopted one of them, Zayd, as his son. Bilal also remembered that he had heard people talk about God when he was a child, and the wise men and women of his people had often said that good actions are rewarded and bad actions are punished and that there will be a new life after death.
Already the next evening and full of hope, Bilal went to visit Zaid who looked rather happy and was not proud at all even though he was a free man living in a big merchant's house, and even though everybody callede him "Zaid, the son of Muhammad". He could tell Bilal even more than what he had heard from his fellow slave the night before, and he also told him that whoever wanted was welcome to learn from Muhammad.
As soon as Bilal had finished his next day's work, he went to the Prophet's house. Quite a crowd of people had already assembled there, and Bilal was glad to discover Zaid among them. There were also other male and female slaves, freedmen as well as men and women, girls and boys. And then the Prophet (s) came and taught his message. Afterwards they sat and talked in a kind and friendly manner, and finally they all prayed together.
From now on Bilal went to the Prophet's house whenever he could. He learned a lot and prayed together with the others and found many new friends. He also took his friends there. In these gatherings, no difference between slaves and free people was felt. All enjoyed the same respect, and Muhammad taught that all human beings are brothers and sisters in God's creation.
One day, however, Bilal's master heard about these visits. He was outraged and called Bilal to account, shouting, "Your mind is just full of useless ideas, and you neglect your work." "I go to see Muhammad only after my work is done," Bilal defended himself. His master did know that, but he did not want to be contradicted by a slave. "I am going to show you who is the master," he shouted. "I demand that you swear at once and by all the gods that you will never go there again." "I am not going to swear by any gods," Bilal replied quietly. "There is only one God to whom we are responsible." Furiously his master got hold a stick and started beating him until he got tired. "Swear by all gods," he commanded again, but Bilal replied, "There is only one God."
The master grabbed Bilal and took him to an open space in the desert outside the city. He tied his hands and feet, threw him down into the sand and put a large stone on his chest so that he could hardly breethe. "You will stay here like that until you deny your God and Muhammad," he said. "There is only one God," Bilal replied.
By mid-day when the sun had become hot and Bilal nearly fainted from thirst and lack of air, his master returned and asked, "Did you think it over?" Bilal was hardly able to speak, but he said, "One! One!"
In this moment, Abu Bakr came by, a wealthy merchant and one of the Prophet's close friends. He saw how Bilal was tortured by his master and asked him to leave him alone. "That's none of your business," the master replied, "he is my slave, and I can do with him what I want." The same would have been the verdict of a judge in case Abu Bakr had started a quarrel with Bilal's master.Quickly Abu Bakr thought of something to help Bilal, and he said, "I want to buy this slave. What do you want for him?" "Do you want to pay good money for this good-for-nothing?" the master grumbled, but at last his greed took over. He bartered with Abu Bakr for a while, then he handed Bilal over to him and went home with his money.
Abu Bakr took Bilal home. He and his family looked after him until he had recovered. Then Abu Bakr said to him, "God's messenger (s) does not want human beings to be slaves. He wants them to be free servants of God. Therefore I am going to write a document of emancipation for you so that people know and respect you as a free man."
Prophet Muhammad (s) had grown up in the home of his uncle Abu Talib after his parents and his grandfather had died. Abu Talib had looked after him lovingly and taken care that he got a good education and was trained to be a businessman.
But Abu Talib was not rich, and he had many children. When the Prophet Muhammad had grown up and had he and his wife Khadija had their own business, they accepted Abu Talibs youngest son Ali into their family. Thus Ali grew up with the Prophet's own children and soon started to learn the things that would be important for his future profession. At the age of twelve, he nearly was a little businessman himself.
One evening, Ali came home and found the Prophet (s) and Khadija standing there in silence, facing the Kaaba and quietly whispering words. After a while, they bowed down, then they stood straight again, then they knelt down, putting their foreheads on the ground twice, then they stood up again. Ali was amazed and watched them how they repeated the same actions several times. Finally they said a greeting to the right and to the left, and Ali asked, "What are you doing?" "We have been praying," Khadija replied.
Now Ali knew very well that people prayed in different ways. Most people in his home city Maccah frayed to carved idols that they had put up at the Ka'bah, and they also sacrificed animals to them. The Jewish merchants used to assemble on Sabbath to recite long prayers in Hebrew and to read from a scroll. In a similar way, Uncle Waraqa who had become a Christian prayed to the One invisible God, and he read books in strange languages and could tell many stories from the past. But Ali had never seen this kind of prayer. He felt attracted by it and asked, "Why do you pray like that?"
"You remember last Ramadan when we lived in a tent in the desert, don't you?" said Khadijah. Well, this was something Ali would never forget. For the children it was always some kind of vacation to get out of the hot and dusty citiy for a couple of weeks and live in the desert like the Bedouins. But last time, something had happened the adults never talked about even though it must have been very impressive for them. Ali sensed that it had to do with this kind of prayer. He nodded.
The Prophet Muhammad (s) then told him about his experience in Ramadan. He had walked out into the desert quite some distance away from the family camp. There he had sat down in a cave in order to think. Maccah was a rich city, but there was a lot of injustice and selfishness. Many of the rich merchants misused their power in order to oppress and to deceive the poor. Some men in certain influential families even believed that their gods had chosen them and given them special rights. Muhammad and his friends had often tried to protect the poor and to help them to get their rights. Once, during an epidemics, Khadija had opened a hospital for people who did not have enough money to pay a doctor. And even the children had often shared their food with the orphans. But all this seemed so little when most inhabitants of the city only thought of themselves.
So the Prophet Muhammad (s) had been sitting and thinking when an angel had talked to him and gave him a message from God. He had been very shaken because it is a great responsibility to bring God's message to the people. But the angel had also taught him to remember, in prayer, that God does not leave His sincere servants to themselves. "This is when we started to pray like this," the Prophet (s) finished his story. "Whben we stand, we remember the words of God's message. And we do not only thank Him with words but bow and prostrate with all our body. We also remember former messengers of God and ask for blessings and peace for them. And finally we give the whole world, right and left, a greeting of peace."
Ali had listened thoughtfully. Wouldn't it be great if people listened to God's message and be honest, friendly and helpful to each other instead of thinking only of themselves; if the rich shared their wealth with the poor and deal justly; if peope didn't have to be afraid because they always remembered that God is there to protect us?
Ali said, "Tomorrow I will ask my father if he agrees that I become a servant of God like you."
In this night, Ali lay awake for a long time. What if his father would not permit him to be a servant of God? Perhaps he would say that a servant of God cannot be a successful businessman. Uncle Waraqa was an example of a servant of God who lived like a poor man and fasted much and had no wife and no children. But Muhammad was a servant of God and a businessman at the same time, even one who was known for his honesty and generosity all over the city. Finally he was overtaken by sleep.
Next morning, Ali said, "I have thought about it. God did not ask my father when He created me. So I think I do nor have to ask my father when I want to be God's servant."
Abraham the Friend of God was well known for his proverbial hospitality. He even went so far that he ate only little when he was by himself, but when he had guests he took great care to offer them an opulent meal. He also used to just invite travellers who were passing by.
One day it happened that he had invited a passing stranger to be his guest. When the food was served, Abraham said, "Now say, 'In the name of God!' and start eating." The stranger replied, "But I do not believe in God," and he was about to start eating without saying a blessing. Abraham held his had back and said, "Those who does not remember God, the Giver of all gifts, cannot eat in my company." So the guest got up and went away without a farewell.
Thereupon God said to Abraham, "My friend, why did you let your guest leave?" Abraham replied, "He was not ready to remember You, the Giver of all gifts." God said, "Why do you, my friend, make such a condition? I let the sun shine for good and bad people, and I make the rain fall on believers and disbelievers. Go and get your guest back and give him something to eat."
Abraham felt ashamed. He went out to catch up with the stranger. When the man saw Abraham coming after him, he thought, "Alas! I just thought he was unpolite, but he seems to be a fanatic on top of that so that he is coming after me!" And he started running.
Abraham ran after him and finally caught up with him. "I want to apologize," he said, catching his breath. "God reproached me for my behaviour and told me to ask you to come back and to invite you for a meal because He also gives his gifts without conditions."
The traveller accepted the invitation and thought by himself, "A God who reproaches His messenger for my sake is someone I would like to know more about."
Rabi'ah the mystic lived in a hut in the desert near Basra sustained by the gifts people brought when they came to ask her advice or to learn from her. One day, two scholars came to visit her, and Rabi'ah had nothing to offer them but two loaves of bread from the day before. She had hardly placed them on the table for them when a beggar came and asked for alms. Without thinking twice, Rabi'ah took the loaves and gave them to the beggar. The two scholars got angry at this, but because of their respect for Rabi'ah they said nothing.
So they sat together for a while talking, and the two visitors gradually got used to the idea that they would have to leave hungry when a slave girl came and brought eighteen fresh loaves, still warm from the oven. She said, "My mistress sends you these."
Rabi'ah counted the loaves and said, "I do not believe that your mistress sent these to me. Go back and take them with you." While the slave girl obeyed, pale in her face, the two scholars became angry again, even more than before, but they said nothing.
After a short while, the slave girl came again. This time she brought twenty loaves. The first time, she had taken two of them away for herself. When Rabi'ah saw that there were twenty loaves, she said, "This is right." She gave two of them to the slave girl as a reward and gave the others to her guests to eat.
Finallay the two scholars asked Rabi'ah to tell them the secret of what had happened, and she said, "When you came in, I saw that you were hungry, so I offered you the two loaves from yesterday, at the same time feeling ashamed that I had nothing better to offer to honourable guests like you. Then the beggar came, and I gave the two loaves to him because I did not want to send him away emptyhanded, trusting God to help His servants when they are generous and hospitable. Since God gives a tenfold reward for every good action, I noticed at once that two of the twenty loaves sent through the girl were missing, and I gave her a chance to make up for her dishonesty."
Once when Jesus, the son of Mary, was travelling in the wilderness, a selfish man joined him. Now Jesus had three loaves of bread, and when they rested he gave one to his fellow traveller and ate one himself, and the third one was left. While Jesus went to fetch water, the man ate the loaf, and when Jesus came back, he did not find it. He asked, "My friend, what happened to the third loaf?" The man replied, "I do not know." Then tey continued their journey.
Soon they came to a river, and there was neither a ferry nor a bridge. Jesus took his fellow traveller's hand and walked whith him across the water. When they had reached the middle of the river, Jesus said, "By the power of Him who makes this miracle happen, do tell me what happened to the third loaf." The man replied, "I do not know." They crossed the river and continued their journey.
When they had walked for some time, they became hungry again. There was no bread left, so they caught a deer, slaughtered it, roasted the meat and ate it. Afterwards Jesus arranged the bones and said a prayer, and the deer became alive again and ran away. Jesus said, "By the power of Him who makes this miracle happen, do tell me what happened to the third loaf." The man replied, "I do not know, and I wish you would not molest me with this question any more."
When they continued, they reached a place where there were three heaps of stones. Jesus said a prayer, and the heaps of stones were changed into heaps of gold. He said to his fellow traveller, "One heap is for you, one heap is for me, and one heap is for the one who has eaten the third loaf." Hearing this, the man was suddenly changed completely, and he said, "I have eaten the third loaf because I was very hungry." When Jesus heard this confession, he said, "I do not want or need any gold. All three heaps shall be yours. But you cannot be my fellow traveller any longer." So he left the man with the gold and continued alone.
Soon afterwards, two men came by. They saw all the gold and asked, "Who is the owner of this?" The first man said, "It is mine." "No," the two others said, "It is now ours." They quarreled for a while, then they decided to share the gold.
Now the quarrel had made them all hungry, so the first man said, "I will go to the nearest village and buy us some bread." The two others agreed readily and said, "When we have eaten and gained some strength, we will share the gold justly and take it away."
The first man went into the village, bought three loaves of bread, ate one of them and poisoned the other two because he thought that then the two others would die and the three heaps of gold would belong to him again.
In the meantime, the two others had decided to kill the first man and to share the gold among themselves, so they lay in lurch for him, murdered him, ate the two loaves he had brought for them and died from the poison.
When Jesus came along this way some time later, he found the three heaps of gold and the three dead men. He said to himself, "If I leave this gold lying here, it will only attract human greed and cause more mischief." He said a prayer, and the three heaps of gold were turned back into heaps of stones.
When Ali had bcome Caliph, he often went trhough the city in disguise in order to see that everything went well and the people could live in justice and peace. One day he met a woman who carried a heavy water skin. He took it on his own shoulders and carried it for her until they came to a miserable little cottage where several young children were waiting for their mother. They were crying from hunger, but the woman said, "I have nothing to give you, only a drink of water." Ali who had put down the water skin in the meantime asked, "Isn't there anyone to look after you?" "No," the woman said, "My husband died some time ago, and now I am all alone with my children." Ali felt ashamed and went away, his head hanging down.
In the next day he came back and brought a basket with grain, fruits and meat. He looked after the children, while the mother prepared a meal, and then he gave them to eat with his own hands. The woman thanked him warmly and said, "The Caliph should follow your example. He lives in his house quietly, forgetting the widows and orphans who have worked for him." Ali kept quiet.
The next day he came back again, brought food and helped the woman with her work. While he was doing that, a neighbour came in. She saw the strange man, recognized him and said, "Alas, Sister! You are letting the Caliph Ali work for you!?"
At this the woman was deeply scared and wanted to apologize, but Ali said, "No, but I have to apologize because it is my duty as a Caliph to care for your welfare."
A preacher kept telling his congregation about God's mercy and forgiveness in his sermons, inspiring them with courage to do good actions and not to give up their hope because of their bad actions, and he never threatened them with God's wrath or the consequences of bad actions.
After he died, he stood before God's judgement, and God asked him, "You are a scholar. Why didn't you tell the people all you know about Me? Why did you always talk about My mercy only, but never about My wrath?"
The preacher replied, "My intention was to make them expect good from You, not to give up the hope for Your forgiveness, and to feel love for You in their hearts."
God said to him, "I will never disappoint those who expect good from Me, and I will forgive those who do not give up the hope for My forgiveness, and I will return the love of those who love Me. Be welcome in My garden."
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