The Story of an African King and His Friend

A story is told about a King in Africa who had a close friend that he grew up with. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that everoccurred in his life (positive or negative) by remarking, "This is good,Allah Almighty knows best"

One day the King and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. Thefriend would load and prepare the guns for the King. The friend hadapparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for aftertaking the gun from his friend, the King fired it and his thumb was blownoff.

Examining the situation the friend remarked as usual, "This is good! AllahAlmighty knows best." To which the King replied, "No, this is NOT good!" and ordered his soldiersto put his friend into jail.

About a year ! later, the King was hunting in an area that he should haveknown to stay clear of. Cannibals captured the King and took him to theirvillage. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and boundhim to the stake.

As they came near to set fire to the wood, they noticed that the King wasmissing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone who was lessthan whole. So after untying the King, they chased him out of the village. When the King reached his Palace, he was reminded of the event that hadtaken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He wentimmediately to the jail to speak with his friend. "You were right" the King said, "it was good that my thumb was blown off."And he proceeded to tell the friend all that had just happened. "I am very sorry for sending you to jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this." "No," his friend replied, "this is good...Allah Almighty knows best" "What do you mean, 'this is good'! How could it be good that I sent myfriend to jail for a year?"

The King's friend replied: "Remember that the Almighty knows best and if Ihad NOT been in jail, I would have been with you on that hunting trip." "He knows what is before them And what is behind them: And to Allah go backAll questions (for decision)" Qur'an:Surah Al Hajj 22:76

Do Not Judge Things or Events by its Immediate Outcome! Almighty, the Most High, is the All-Knowledgeable, the All-Knower... He chooses to show us things... but sometimes... we are not shown thewisdom behind some things. When we are confronted by circumstances that arenot very pleasing.... we are quick to say: "This is not good..." but... is it really? We might not know the purpose behind it. It might turn to be agood thing.... thus.. .when we are faced with any situation... do not betoo quick to judge... always remember.... this life is a test... the good and the bad.... and there is nothing that happens for no reason... our brains are just not gifted enough to understand these reasons yet. Sometimes ... things happen to us for a reason.