He says a good man. One day I woke up at ten in the morning. I only had the price of lunch for my family, nothing less and nothing more. We ate the breakfast that God had written for us. Then I took the money for lunch...while I was preparing to go out.
A woman knocked on the door...and my wife opened the door for her. I spoke to her, then my wife came. I told her who is this lady and what does she want?
My wife replied that she is our neighbor
So I said what do you want?
She said: My wife was asking me if she had any leftover food that she wanted to feed her children with.
So I said to her, “What did you say to her?”
My wife replied. I asked her to wait to see if there was anything, but I did not find anything.
So I told my wife, take this money and give it to her. And tell her to go and buy food for her children
My wife said, “But this is the price of our food, my dear.” If you give it to her, where do we get the money to buy food? As you know, my dear, you are unemployed and cannot get money
I told her to go and give her the money and we will be patient. But she has children. They will not remain silent and will not endure and be patient in the face of hunger.
My wife went and gave the woman the money.
Then I went out walking in the street.
I spent more than an hour walking in the street. I was thinking about going to my friend and asking him to lend me some money...but I was wondering what if he told me. How will you return the money when you are unemployed and do not have any work? I was afraid he would embarrass me.
But I thought for a long time and then decided to go and see what he had to say.
His house was far away and I could not afford transportation. I walked on foot until I reached his house
So I knocked on the door...and he opened the door for me.
So I talked to him for a little while, then I said to him, “Listen, my friend. I came to you walking under the scorching heat of the sun to ask you to lend me some money until God releases it to me and I return it to you, God willing.
He said, Okay, wait for me here for a minute.
I waited for him for a minute, half an hour, and an hour, but he did not come out and I did not receive any news. So I knew that he would not come out and that he was embarrassed by me. Or he doesn't want to give me money.
So I decided to go back to where I came from on foot. So I walked, feeling sad and depressed about myself, who had lost my best friend. My eyes filled with tears, uncontrollably.
After a short while, I heard the sound of the noon call to prayer, so I went to the mosque, performed ablution, then entered and prayed two rak'ahs to greet the mosque, and they established the prayer. They asked me to go forward and pray with them, so I went forward and prayed with them.
We finished praying and I sat in my place asking for forgiveness and praising God. Suddenly a man came and sat next to me, so I looked at him and said to him, “What do you want, my brother in God?”
He replied, saying, “I want you to talk about something after you finish praising God.”
She finished and left the mosque. I saw him waiting for me inside his car. So I approached him. So I said
Good luck, brother. How can I help you?
He replied: I paid my zakat share and that of my family. I want you to distribute it to the poor and needy.
I said to him with great pleasure, my brother, and may God reward you with a thousand good things.
So he took out a bag full of money, then he handed me an envelope and said to me, “This envelope is for you.” I said to him, “May God reward you with goodness, and may God bless you and your money, and may God increase you from His bounty, my son.”
The man left and I went to the neighborhood where I live and distributed the money equally to the poor as God pleases
I gave my wife some money and asked her to give it to that poor neighbor.
When I finished distributing the zakat, as the man asked me to do, I opened the envelope and found a lot of money in it. And a small message written on it.
My brother in God. If you finish distributing the money, please call me on this number.
I did not have a phone, so I went out into the street and called him from the booth on a landline. He said hello to me who is with me.
I told him that I was the person who asked him to distribute money to the poor hours ago. I found a letter inside the envelope she gave me. And it has your phone number. I do not have a personal phone or my home, so I went out to the store to call you as was mentioned in the message. But tell me what you want.
He replied: I wanted to see whether you would call me or not. I wanted to test your honesty and sincerity. But I came out honest and truthful. This is what I am looking for..I will give you my address and tomorrow morning you will come to my house.
I took the address and then went to him in the morning. He received me and gave me hospitality.
He asked me to work for him in a charitable project, and he also told me that the money he asked me to distribute was a test he had set for several people, but no one contacted him, as he was looking for an honest person worthy of trust to undertake the work in his charitable project.
Praise be to God who helped me with this difficult exam. Thanks to God, I became the director of a charitable project and my condition improved.
And all this success is thanks to God and then thanks to that poor widow lady.
It's over
Jaafar Abdul Karim Al Khabouri
