Islam Guidance

Who is Closest to God? The Rich or The Poor?

The Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H&H.P) was sitting in the mosque in Madina giving a talk to some of his followers while they were waiting for Salaat time to set in.
A rich man wearing expensive clothes came and sat in front of the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H&H.P) to listen to his talk.
Meanwhile another man who had also came to listen to the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H&H.P) sat down beside the rich man.
The second man was not rich; in fact he was quite poor. The old and torn clothes he was wearing showed just how poor he was.
The rich man did not like for the poor man to sit next to him. He pulled his nice, new, expensive clothes closer to himself, so that they would not be touched by the dirty, old, torn clothes of the poor man.
The Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H&H.P) noticed what the rich man had done and was upset and disappointed. He asked the rich man why he had done this? Was it because he thought that some of his wealth might go to the poor man, or was it because he thought some of the poverty of the poor man might come to him.
The rich man, who was not a bad person, realized what he had done was wrong and was truly sorry.
To make up for his mistake and to show how sorry he was, the rich man after apologizing to the poor man, offered him half of all his wealth.
The poor man told the rich man that he accepted his apology and forgave him, but did not want half of his wealth as he did not want to get something without having worked for it.
Moral
In the eyes of Allah how rich or poor a person is makes no difference. The person who is closest to Allah is the one who obeys Him in every action.

Ref: Almujtaba Islamic Network

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