i received this story from one of iium alumnus..
There was once a man who was an enemy to Islam. He had three famous questions that no person could answer. No Islamic scholar in Baghdad could answer his three questions...thus he made fun of Islam in public. He constantly ridiculed Islam and the Muslims.
One day a small boy, whose age was 10, came along and heard the man yelling and screaming at Muslims in the street. He was challenging people openly to answer the three questions.
The boy stood quietly and watched. He then decided that he would challenge the man. He walked up and told the man, "I will accept your challenge".
The man laughed at the boy and ridiculed the Muslims even more by saying, "A ten year old boy challenges me. Is this all you people have to offer!"
But the boy patiently reiterated his stance. He would challenge the man, and with Allah?s help and guidance, he would put this to an end. The man finally accepted.
The entire city gathered around a small "hill" where open addresses were usually made. The man climbed to the top, and in a loud voice asked his first question.
"What is your God doing right now?"
The small boy thought for a little while and then told the man to climb down the hill and to allow him to go up in order to address the question.
The man says "What? You want me to come down?"
The boy says, "Yes. I need to reply, right?"
The man made his way down and the small boy, age 10, with his little feet made his way up.
This small child?s reply was "Oh Allah Almighty! You be my witness in front of all these people. You have just willed that a Kafir be brought down to a low level, and that a Muslim be brought to a high level!"
The crowd cheered and screamed "Takbir"...."Allah-hu-akbar!!!"
The man was humiliated, but he boldly asked his Second question... "What existed before your God?"
The small child thought and thought.
Then he asked the man to count backwards. "Count from 10 backwards."
The man counted..."10, 9, 8 , 7 , 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,0"
The boy asked, "What comes before 0?"
The man: "I don?t know...nothing."
The boy: "Exactly. Nothing was before Allah, for He is eternal and absolute."
The crowd cheered again...."Takbir!"...."Allah-hu-akbar!!!!"
The man, now completely frustrated, asked his final question. "In which direction is your Allah facing?"
The boy thought and thought.
He then asked for a candle. A candle was brought to him. The blessed child handed it to the man and asked him to light it.
The man did so and remarked, "What is this supposed to prove?"
The young boy asked, "In which direction is light from the candle going?"
The man responded, "It is going in all directions."
The boy: "You have answered your own question. Allah's light (noor) goes in all directions. His knowledge everywhere.
There is nowhere that His (swt) knowledge cannot be found.
"The crowd cheered again...."Takbir!"...."Allah-hu-akbar!!!"
The man was so impressed and so moved by the boy?s knowledge and spirituality, that he embraced Islam and became a student of the young boy.
So ended the debate.
Who was the young boy?
The young boy was one of our leaders and one of the greatest scholars, Imam Abu Hanifa (May Allah bless him).
WHO IS THIS IMAM ABU HANIFAH??
Imam Abu Hanifa is one of the four imams. He was born on 80 A.H. at Kufah, Iraq. Some of his
characteristics are:
a). Impartiality: Imaam Abu Hanifah (R. A.) has never accepted a favour from anyone and so was never indebted to anyone.
b). Humanitarian ways& generosity: On seeing Imaam Abu Hanifah (R. A.) a passer by avoided him and took a different path. When Imaam Abu Hanifah (R.A.) questioned as to why he did so, he replied that he was ashamed of himself as he was Imaam Abu Hanifah’s debtor of 10 000 Dirhams. The man’s humbleness over took Imaam Abu Hanifah (R.A.) and so he forgave the repayment of the debt.
c). Kind heartedness: Once, whilst sitting in a Masjid Imaam Sahib learnt of someone who had fallen from a roof. Immediately, Imaam Sahib departed from the gathering, barefooted, and ran to the place of accident. Until the injured recovered, Imaam Sahib paid daily visits to nurse him.
d). Disposition : Imaam Sahib would never speak unless it was necessary to do so. Someone mentioned before Sufyan Thawri (R.A.) that he had never heard Imaam Sahib back biting. Sufyan (R.A.) replied, "Abu Hanifah (R.A.) is not such a fool that he will destroy his own good deeds."
e). Abstinence & God Fearing Ways:
i). Sharik has stated, "I have never once observed Imaam Abu Hanifah reposing within the nights hours."
ii). Abu Nu’aym states, "Even before observing salaah Imaam Hanifah (R. A.) would weep and supplicate before Allah."
iii). There is no such Surah within the Qur’an which I have not recited during Nafl prayers." - Abu Hanifah (R. A.)
iv). Kharija lbn Mus’ab has stated that 4 religious leaders have completed the recitation of the entire Qur’an in one rakaah of salaah alone. Uthmaan Ibn Affaan (RA.), Tameen Daari (RA.), Sa’eed Ibn Jubair (R. A.) and Imaam Abu Hanifah (R. A.).
v). There was once acknowledgment of a stolen sheep. Imaam Abu Hanifah inquired and researched as to how long a sheep lives. After finding out, he never ate sheep for 7 years, fearing that the meat may be from the stolen sheep.
vi). For 40 consecutive years Imaam Sahib observed a nocturnal practice of performing Fajr salaah with the ablution of Esha.
Imam Abu Hanifah, throughout his life has perfomed 55 times of hajj. Another amazing fact that it is almost impossible for us to do is that he completed the whole quran, 60 times in a month of Ramadhan. But for us, we would take months or years to complete reading the whole Quran!
This shows where we are standing right now..
time to change lazy bums!!!!
ps: want to know more about him, read this
