MUSJIDUL HAQ

Download PDF: [S] The Three Greedy Brothers

This incident took place a few days after Nabi ‘Isa ‘Alayhis Salaam was carried to the heavens.

It is mentioned that there was a beautiful orchard a few miles away from the city of Sanaa in Yemen. The name of this orchard was “Sardaan”. The owner of this orchard was a very pious and kind-hearted person. He had the habit that whenever he wanted to pick the fruits, he used to call the poor and destitute of the area and inform them that if any fruit fell on the floor through some wind or if it fell off some of the containers in which they were been loaded, then this fruit belonged to these poor people. In this manner, many of the fruits of this orchard were actually given to the poor and destitute.

However, when the owner of this orchard died, this orchard came into the possession of his three sons. All three of them were extremely miserly. They thought that if this fruits were given to the poor, then they would not be able to survive themselves. They then decided that they would harvest all the fruits before sunrise so that no one among the poor and destitute would know what they had done.

However, during the night, Allah azza wajal sent punishment to them in the form of a fire and the entire orchard was destroyed. These three brothers were also totally unaware of what had happened. These brothers then awoke in the last part of the night. They set off to the orchard and also spoke softly among themselves so that others could not hear them speaking. However, when they arrived at the orchard, they were shocked. One of them said that perhaps they had taken a wrong route.

One brother, who was a little wiser said, “We have not taken the wrong road. Allah azza wajal has certainly taken away these fruits from us. They then began to read the Tasbeeh of Allah azza wajal.

They also admitted that they had tried to rob the poor and destitute and they also began to condemn each other for this bad behaviour. They also made sincere Taubah.

Hadrat Sayyiduna Abdullah ibn Masud Radi Allahu ‘Anhu narrates that, “These people made sincere Taubah in the Divine Court of Allah azza wajal and Allah azza wajal accepted their Taubah. In place of this, Allah azza wajal blessed them with another orchard in which even larger fruits appeared in abundance. The name of this orchard was ‘Haywaan.’ It is said that there were such large bunches of grapes in these trees that a single branch of grape could load one donkey.” Abu Khalid Yamaani also admits that he had visited this orchard and he says that one single bunch of grapes was as tall as a person. (Tafseer Saawi, 4/198)

This incident teaches us the importance of kindness and generosity and the immense benefit which one can achieve through this. At the same time, we also come to understand that true and sincere Taubah can also achieve double the reward.