The Cocoon and the Butterfly

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared, he sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the little hole.

Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and could go no farther. Then the man decided to help the butterfly.

He took a pair of scissors and snipped the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily.

Something was strange. The butterfly had a swollen body and shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time.

Neither happened. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and deformed wings. It was never able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the small opening of the cocoon are God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us to go through all our life without any obstacles, that would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We could never fly.

Is not our life in this dunya like the cocoon?

(Reblogged from: trusimplicity.tumblr.com)

The 24 Gold Coins

Once upon a time there lived a king. He was very powerful.  One day he called two of his servants and gave each of them 24 gold pieces. The king told them to go and live on one of his rich, royal farms. The farms were two months’ distance away. The king commanded, ‘Use this money for your tickets and buy whatever is necessary for your house. There is a station one days’ distance away from the farm.’ He told them that there is road-transport, railways, boat and aeroplanes. They could choose any according to the money he was giving them.

The two servants set off after receiving these instructions. One of them was fortunate as he was obedient to his master, the King, so while going to the station he not only spent a small amount of money but he also did some business which gave him a lot of profit. The King became very happy and the servant’s wealth increased a thousand-fold.

The other servant was unfortunate because he was disobedient to his master, the King. He spent 23 pieces of gold while going to the station. He wasted it in gambling and other amusements. Now he was left with a single gold piece only. His fortunate friend told him to buy a ticket so that he would not have to walk alone and hungry across the desert which takes two months to cross.

Let’s now look at the story from a different point of view:

The King in the story is Allah Almighty, our Creator. Of the two servants, the first one represents the obedient ones, who perform their daily prayers with fervor. The second one represents the careless who neglect their prayers. The twenty-four pieces of gold are life in every twenty-four-hour day. The royal domain or the farm is Paradise. The station is Grave and to the Resurrection, the Hereafter. The ticket in the story represents the five daily prayers or Namaz.

If we roughly estimate the time spent in taking ablution (Wudhoo) and offering five prayers then it is hardly one hour. Now think how unreasonable it would be if out of 24 hours in a day we spend 23 hours on this worldly life and hesitate to spend just one hour for the life of Hereafter. Besides our heart soul and mind find great comfort and peace in Namaz. And it is not tiring for the body too. Furthermore all the actions of the person who offers Namaz five times regularly becomes like worship.  

-Taken from a children’s book