100 Moral Stories 29
Jahannam? I served others all my life, I spread the word of Allah to others.” His eyes had become
blurry and he was shaking with sweat. The two angels took him by the arms. As his feet dragged,
they went through the crowd and advanced toward the blazing flames of Jahannam. He was yelling
and wondered if there was any person who was going to help him. He was yelling of all the good
deeds he had done, how he had helped his father, his fasts, prayers, the Qur’an that he read, he was
asking if none of them would help him. The Jahannam angels continued to drag him. They had got-
ten closer to the Hellfire. He looked back and these were his last pleas. Had not Rasulullah [saw]
said, “How clean would a person be who bathes in a river five times a day, so too does the Salah
performed five times cleanse someone of their sins?” He began yelling, “My prayers? My prayers?
My prayers?”
The two angels did not stop, and they came to the edge of the abyss of Jahannam. The flames of the
fire were burning his face. He looked back one last time, but his eyes were dry of hope and he had
nothing left in him. One of the angels pushed him in.
He found himself in the air and falling towards the
flames. He had just fallen five or six feet when a hand
grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back. He lifted
his head and saw an old man with a long white beard.
He wiped some dust off himself and asked him,
“Who are you?” The old man replied, “I am your prayers.”
“Why are you so late! I was almost in the Fire! You
rescued me at the last minute before I fell in.”
The old man smiled and shook his head. “You always
performed me at the last minute, and did you forget?”
At that instant, he blinked and lifted his head from
Sajdah. He was in a sweat. He listened to the voices
coming from outside. He heard the adhan for Salat-ul
Isha. He got up quickly and went to perform Wudhu.
“Say Your Prayers Before Prayers For You Are Said.”
“Namaz Parh Is Se Pehle Ke Teri Namaz Parhi Jaye.”
WORDS AND ACTIONS SHOULD BE THE SAME
There once was a boy who loved eating sweets. He always asked for sweets from his father. His
father was a poor man. He could not always afford sweets for his son. But the little boy did not
understand this, and demanded sweets all the time.
The boy’s father thought hard about how to stop the child asking for so many sweets. There was a
very holy man living nearby at that time. The boy’s father had an idea. He decided to take the boy
to the great man who might be able to persuade the child to stop asking for sweets all the time.
The boy and his father went along to the great man. The father said to him, “O great saint, could
you ask my son to stop asking for sweets which I cannot afford?” The great man was in difficulty,
because he liked sweets himself. How could he ask the boy to give up asking for sweets? The holy
man told the father to bring his son back after one month.
During that month, the holy man gave up eating sweets, and when the boy and his father returned
