Muneer Zuhurudeen, Associate Chaplain and Mentor
COLLEGE PARK, MD –
One of my favorite stories of all time goes something like this:
A Muslim scholar from amongst the generation of the Taba’ ut-taabi’een (two generations after the companions of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him) was traveling around Syria with a caravan when all of a sudden, they were ambushed by a group of thieves. The bandits took control of their caravan and circled up their camels and then placed all of the goods in the middle of the circle with their newly captured prisoners. The group of bandits began rifling through the goods looking for something to snack on and began eating from a bag of almonds and sugar. The scholar, who was sitting with the rest of the prisoners, noticed that all of the thieves were eating from these sweets, except for their leader. He called out to the leader and asked, “Why aren’t you eating?”. The leader turned to him and replied, “I’m fasting”. The scholar was shocked and asked him, “How can you be a thief who robs unsuspecting travelers and kills people while fasting at the same time?” In other words, “Do you think your act of religious devotion would be worth anything if you’re committing such treachery?” The bandit responded by saying something remarkable. He said, “‘Oh wise man, this is a door that I keep open between myself and God so that one day I will be able to enter upon God through it.’” The thief then let his prisoners go. A year later, the scholar was performing the Holy Pilgrimage in Mecca and he happened to see the same bandit amongst the crowd. He was so surprised and asked him “How is it that you are here?”. The man responded, “God called me back to Him through the door of fasting and I was able to leave my bad deeds behind.”