In a previous era, there lived a mass murderer. Yes, a mass murderer who did not kill one, two, or even ten people. No, he had killed ninety-nine. I have no idea how this man managed to escape revenge; perhaps, he was so ruthless that none would ever dare approach him, or perhaps he kept in hiding. The important fact here though is that he was
guilty of ninety-nine murders. One day, the idea of repentance crossed his
mind, so he decided to ask the most
knowledgeable scholar in the world.
People pointed him in the direction
of a monk in a monastery who would never leave his prayer
mat, spending all his time praying to Allah and weeping.
The man visited the monk, stood in
front of him and asked, “I have killed ninety-nine souls.
Could I still repent?”
How could this monk, who I think if
he were to have killed an ant mistakenly would have spent
the rest of his life weeping, respond to a person who had
murdered ninety-nine people with his bare hands? The monk was
furious. It was as if the man standing in front of him was the embodiment of
the ninety-nine corpses! He yelled, “There is no
repentance for you! There is no repentance for you!”
It should come as no surprise that
such a response would be given by a monk who lacked
knowledge and made emotional decisions. When the murderer heard this
response he was enraged. Being the callous person he was, he
grabbed a knife and repeatedly stabbed the monk, cutting him into
pieces, then stormed out of the monastery. After some time, he thought about repentance
once again.
He esquired about the most
knowledgeable person he could ask, and the people referred him to
a scholar. When he visited the scholar, he found him to be
sedate and god-fearing.
The murderer came forward and
asked, “I have killed a hundred people. Could I still repent?” The scholar instantly replied,
“SubhaanAllah! What could prevent you from
repenting?” What a wonderful response! Who
could prevent a person from repentance? The Lord is in the
heavens and there is no power on earth that can prevent a
person from repenting to Him submissively.
This scholar, who had made his
statement based on knowledge and upon Allah’s Law as opposed to
his whims and emotions, said to the man, “However, you are
in an evil land.” Strange! How did he know that? He gathered
this by knowing the magnitude of the man's crime and the absence
of anyone to forbid him.
He realized that murder and
oppression had become a norm in that city, so much so that nobody
had any concern for the plight of the oppressed.
He said, “You are in an evil land.”
Meaning, you must leave here and go to such-and-such a land
where there are people worshiping Allah and join them in
worshiping Him. The man set out for that land but
died before reaching it. The angels of mercy and those of
punishment descended to take his soul. The angels of mercy argued
that he had been on his way to repenting and returning to Allah.
The angels of wrath argued that he had not done any good in his
entire life. Therefore, Allah sent an angel in the form of a man to
settle their dispute. He judged that the distance between the two
cities be measured, and that the man be judged according to
whichever of the two he had been closer to. Allah inspired the
city of mercy to be closer and the city of disobedience to be farther. It was
thus discovered that he had been closer to the city
of virtue. The angels of mercy therefore took
the man's soul.
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