Accountability

There was a king who had a brother whom he loved very dearly. When the king’s brother died,
the king was very worried and concerned with what was going to happen to his brother once
he was buried. So the king advertised for a person to go down with the body of his brother to
see how his brother would be once the body was buried. Nobody was prepared to do this, even
though the king promised a purse of 10 gold coins. At this time a very poor man had just come
into the city and he had heard about the king’s offer. This man was very poor, he had no
possessions, just a small bag with some clothes inside. He thought to himself, what have I got
to loose, let me take up the kings offer so I could live a decent life with the money I would
earn. So he accepted the offer. He was put into the grave with the king’s brother and he was
provided with food, water and air. He was given a lamp too, so he could see in the dark. After
the burial, when the two angels came into the grave, upon seeing this poor man, the angels
said “who is this person? We were only commanded to interrogate the deceased person, but
since he is here let us start with him” After a while the poor person gave a signal to be pulled
out of the grave. Once he got out the king was waiting for him, “well. Said the king, how did
it go?” The poor man said to the king “The angels interrogated me so harshly for this small
bag of mine, with negligible content that I became scared and full of worry. I don’t know
about your brother, but you can keep your gold coins, if I was interrogated in this way, I
fear how you will be dealt with all your possessions, when you die and enter your grave”.
The moral of the story is that we have to account for all that we have acquired in this
temporary world, so let us try and live a simple life, may Allah help us.