The Boy and the Monk.. Choose Faith Even If It Costs Your Life
The boy and faith
In ancient times, there was a young boy who served a tyrannical king who claimed divinity for himself. The boy had a wise teacher (a monk) who taught him to believe in Allah alone.
One day, while the boy was grazing his sheep, a wolf appeared and tried to attack a sheep. The boy picked up a stone and said: "In the name of Allah, Allah is the Greatest." He threw the stone and it killed the wolf! The boy was amazed by the power of faith and decided to tell people about this miracle of belief.
The king heard about the boy and the miraculous stone, and he became furious. How dare this boy believe in a god other than the king?! He ordered his soldiers to bring the boy and tried to tempt him with wealth and status to renounce his faith, but the brave boy refused: “I will not abandon my faith in Allah for anything in this world.”
The king grew angrier and ordered him to be tortured. First, he ordered him to be thrown from a high mountain. People gathered on the mountaintop and pushed the boy off. But the boy prayed to Allah: "O Allah, protect me from them as You wish." Suddenly, strong winds came and gently carried the boy safely to the ground!
The king became even more enraged and ordered the boy to be placed in a boat and thrown into the raging sea. When they threw him in, the boy prayed to his Lord, and the sea suddenly calmed, returning the boat to shore with the boy inside!
When people saw these consecutive miracles, they began to believe with the boy. Soon, the boy had many followers who believed in Allah.
Finally, the king devised another plan. He gathered people in a large square, brought another boy, and told the believing boy: "If you kill this boy with your knife, I will let you live." But the believing boy refused to kill an innocent soul.
The king said: "Then I will kill you!" The believing boy told the king: "You cannot kill me unless you do what I command you." The king asked: “What is it?”
The believing boy said: "Gather all the people in one place, crucify me on a tree trunk, then take an arrow from my quiver and shoot me while saying: 'In the name of Allah, the Lord of this boy.'" The king was astonished by this request but agreed, thinking this would be the end of the boy.
The king did as the boy requested. He gathered the people, placed the boy on the tree, took an arrow and said: "In the name of Allah, the Lord of this boy." Then he released the arrow, which struck the boy's heart, and he died!
At that moment, all the people cried out: "We believe in the Lord of this boy!" The king and his soldiers were terrified, but it was too late. All the people of the kingdom believed in Allah, and the king's tyranny collapsed.
This true story from the Hadith of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him, narrated by Muslim) teaches us that true faith does not waver before authority, wealth, or torture. That Allah supports the believers even if after a while, and that the light of truth cannot be extinguished by the oppression of tyrants.
