Allah Ta'alah is watching

FOR THOSE OF OUR WHANAU WHO CAN NOT READ URDU

Once Hazrat Omar RAA was travelling. On the way he felt hungry. Hazrat Farooq-e-Azam RAA tried to find a village nearby but couldn't find any. During his search for food and people he saw a herd of goats grazing. He thought of asking the shepherd to give him some milk to quench his thirst. Hazrat Farooq-e-Azam said to the shepherd, "I am a traveller, I am very hungry, could you please sell me the milk of one goat and I will pay you for it." The shepherd said, "Sir! I would have happily given you the milk but these goats are not mine. I am someone's employee who has hired me to look after these goats. I can not give you the milk until I take permission from the goats' owner."

Hazrat Omar Farooq RAA also used to test people. He said to the shepherd, "I will suggest something which will be of benefit to both of us. You sell a goat to me and I will pay you for it now. My benefit would be that I will get milk to drink, and if need be I can slaughter the goat and eat its meat. Your benefit would be that you keep the money and spend it yourself. If your employer asks about the missing goat just lie to him that a wolf ate it. Wolves eat goats all the time any way. There would be no way your employer can check whether it actually happened or not. This way it would be a win-win situation for us."

As soon as the shepherd heard this he exclaimed, "O Master! What about Allah?" Meaning you are telling me to lie to my employer and tell him that a wolf ate the goat. Indeed my employer is not here and is not watching me but Allah Ta'alah is watching us all the time. How can I lie when he is watching me all the time.

When Hazrat Omar RAA heard this he said, "As long as there are are people like you in this Ummah (nation) no harm will come to this Ummah."

Adapted from the talk "The greatness of the knowledge of Quran Karim" by Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani DB