The Dream - A Short Story
Once upon a time there was a man in the jungle enjoying a nice
day watching the equatorial lush green foliage and the exotic
animal life. Suddenly, the man heard the movement of a lion
behind him and so ran for his life. But the man couldn’t escape
and came face to face with the lion. As he was thinking quickly
of another way to escape, he saw a deep well to his right. His
options were narrowed between drowning in the well and being
chewed by the hungry lion.
The man decided to jump into the well hoisting himself with a
rope tied to the top of the well for drawing water. As he reached
the bottom of the well, the man saw a huge man-eating snake
taking a nap at the bottom; the man pulled himself up in the
middle of the well, suspended between a hungry lion on the top
and a sleeping snake at the bottom.
Meanwhile the man noticed that two mice, one black and one
white were chewing the rope he was hanging on, making it
thinner and thinner. The man began to swing with the rope
hitting the sides of the walls of the well periodically. Suddenly he
felt something sticky on his shoulder, as he examined what it was,
he found that it was honey. Upon looking around the well he
noticed a bee colony on the wall of the well.
The man forgot the dangerous situation he was involved in and
started licking the honey to his satisfaction. He suddenly
remembered where he was and jumped out of bed. The man
was dreaming all along. The man went to a Sheikh to interpret
his dream. The Sheikh laughed and asked him: “You do not
understand this dream?" The man replied "Yes sir, I do not."
The Sheikh said "The lion that was chasing you is the Angel of
Death. The well which housed the snake is your grave. The rope
in the well that you were hanging on is your lifetime ticking
away. The Rodents chewing your rope, the black and the white
mice are the day and the night. The man asks "The honey, Sir,
What is the honey?" The Sheikh replied “The honey is the life of
this world and its temptations which made you forget that there
was death behind you and a grave ahead of you. You end up in
the grave while savoring the taste of the honey until you find
yourself standing trial for your deeds in a Court of Law of the
most Just kind.
The above narration was just intended to remind us that we are
also busy licking the honey (lost in the temptations of this world)
while our life time is ticking away. Some day (sooner or later) we
will also face the angel of death and will be carried to our grave!
Say: "Verily, the death from which you flee will surely meet you,
then you will be sent back to (Allah), the All-Knower of the
unseen and the seen, and He will tell you what you used to
do." {Surat Al-Jumu`ah, Verse 8}
Think and Reflect.........