The King and His Advisor
By Ahmed Rizk
There was a king who had an advisor always by his side. After an unfortunate incident, the king lost one of his fingers. The king, who was furious after this incident, tells the advisor what happened. The advisor simply replies “la2alahu khair” which translates into “it’s for the best”. The king was appalled that this was all his advisor could say after such a tragedy and immediately has him imprisoned.
Time passes, and the king takes a journey on a ship. The ship sinks, however the king seeks refuge in a large piece of wood which kept him afloat until he reaches the nearest shoreline. There, the king finds a tribe consisting of cannibals. They thought that the King would make a great gift/feast for their master. Before preparing the king as a meal to their master, a man from the tribe notices the king’s missing finger. He immediately points out that the king is “flawed” and it would be an insult to their master if the king was served to him.
They let the king go, and he eventually finds his way back home. Upon arrival he goes directly to the cell where his advisor was kept and tells him what happened on his journey and that if it wasn’t for his missing finger, he would have been someone’s meal! The king decides to release his advisor and apologizes for throwing him in prison. The king asks if there is anything he can do in return in return for his advisor’s forgiveness. The advisor just replies “la2alahu khair” (it’s for the best). The king is amazed how his advisor could not be upset about what was done to him, and asks “how is it for the best? You were thrown in prison!”
The advisor simply replies, “If I wasn’t in prison, I would have been with you on that ship. I would have floated to shore with you, and although the group of cannibals found you to be flawed because of your missing finger, they would have noticed that my body is free from such flaws. You would have been pardoned, however they would have served me to their master instead!”
After I heard this story I was just wowed. I think people need to hear more stories like this. We have become so close-minded and we no longer have any trust in Allah SWT, similar to the King. The Quran teaches us that sometimes we might think something bad has happened, even though it is for our benefit (regardless of whether or not we realize it) and if something good happens, we will sometimes think it’s bad (not realizing the benefit). We need to trust Allah SWT and become more patient like the advisor.
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