Once upon a time there lived a wealthy old man in Dubai. He had a luxurious lifestyle. He had built his mansions, apartments, hotels and offices all around the World in US, UK, Malaysia, Switzerland and many other Countries of the World.
He had a servant who had served him for many years. He used to address his servant by the name “Dumbo”. One day the old man called his servant and told him “Dumbo, I am going on a trip to New Zealand tomorrow and will be returning after a month.” His servant asked him “That’s a very long period where are you going to stay there, Sir?” The old man burst into laughter and replied, “Oh Dumbo ! Don’t you know I have my mansions in almost every country in the World? Of course I am going to stay in my beautiful palace that I had built when I last visited New Zealand.”
The old man returned from his trip. Some other time he had another trip abroad so he called his servant, “Dumbo, come here and pack the bags. I am going to leave for Sweden tomorrow.” Dumbo asked “Where are you going to stay there, sir?” The old man again laughed and replied, “Dumbo, don’t you know I have 2 mansions and 3 hotels in Sweden?”
Several years passed and the old man fell ill. His health deteriorated with time and finally he was on his death bed. He called his servant and said, “Dumbo, come here ! my health is worsening day by day and I think I am heading towards my afterlife.” Dumbo jokingly asked ”Where are you going to stay there, Sir ?”
The old man burst into tears and told “Oh Dumbo, all these years I was so proud of myself for I have had properties in nearly every country of the world. I have built for myself great mansions, hotels, mansions, palaces, but I just never thought of building anything for myself in the hereafter. I was a wealthy man in this life, but now I realize that I am going to be a very poor man in the hereafter. Probably you might as well have a good place to live in the hereafter because you were happy with whatever God gave you and you were grateful to Him with whatever little you had, while I never thanked God for the luxurious life I lead living in this world and instead thought I was wealthy because of my hard-work. My pride and arrogance didn’t let me thank God for all that I had. I called you Dumbo all these years, but in fact I have been the dumb one, the foolish one”
Dear Readers, Time to think what have we prepared for our hereafter ? We spent our time, wealth and health and everything for building and securing our own and our family’s future. What have we done to secure our hereafter ? Our destination is hereafter which is eternal, while this life is just an intermediate station we don’t stay here forever.
yes if we kept on preparing material things in this world we will surely loose the eternal and true world.We must think about that life.
It is not clear whether he did some thing good or not, there are lot of people who do good things i.e . they are praying, and fulfill all the Islamic rules ,and doing enough for this world, but still they think it is not enough, any way it is nice story for all of us, thanks.
Fear AllAh ..that makes u go on the straight path
Well, the old fellow still hasn’t died yet!!!
Before leaving this world he can have his property donated for charity. That might buy him a cottage in the life hereafter.
An excellent email.Life after death is sure to be faced by everyone living now.As we worked hard to achieve the fruits of labour today,we must work even harder than this for that permanent abode.Grow generously now to harvest abundantly in future,Insha Allah. Thank you very much Sara & your team for these thought provoking emails.Jazak Allah Khairan.Amen.
Its a simple reminder to us as Muslims, how prepared are we for the life in the hereafter.
We can amass all we can in this world but what are we sending in preparation for the hereafter. If we can ask ourselves this and other questions often, we would always make effort to prepare for life after we die.
Thanks, the Sara FFJ team for the subtle reminders.
one doesn’t prevent the other. Allah can give u loads, in return U do what u hv to do, thank him, salaat, zakaat and all that for the hereafter. if this guy didn’t, well his fault. I am sure he is an exception though.
It is human nature to undertake investment projects to increase wealth and to enjoy life. Remember the hadith which directs us to continue “planting the tree” even if Qiyamah is about to start.
On the other hand, this should not be at the expense of the hereafter, neither should we be overwhelmed by our wealth to such an extent as to make us arrogant and infringe upon the rights of others, including making mockery of them.
I disagree with the notion that, just because a person had a positive impact in the job market, he is absolved of his wrong doings. What counts and what matters is a person’s intentions and his overall treatment of his fellow human beings.
Although it is not clear in the story if he worshipped Allah SWT and feared Allah SWT, what if he just didn’t worship Allah SWT all his life ? I mean what if he just didn’t care about obeying Allah SWT ? What if he never found time to do salaah as he was so busy making a great life on Earth that he just forgot his obligations towards God ?
And the fact that on his deathbed he is realizing that he didn’t prepare for aakhirah is because he knows that he never obeyed Allah’s commands. Never did anything to please His Creator instead did things to be rich and become famous.
Mr. Jaffar, what you are not realizing here is the man is worried about himself because he knows very well he didn’t worship or fear His creator all his life.
And the narrator of the story is not saying that he “will” be a loser in the aakhirah 🙂
Dears,
Every one has his point of view,
Here the moral of the story is what we prepared for our aakhirat(hereafter). Are we prepared for death before death?
THANKS SARA
You are welcome 🙂
isa you are missing the point here, the story is not about the word bungalow whatever it means a house or a room, plus it might have other meanings in other countries, like down under means down under not australia in our country ok bloke that means dude or man or guy
yup, the moral is actually important here. How a man feels in the end when he is on deathbed and realizes he did everything in his capacity to please himself, his family and other people and did nothing to please Allah SWT.
LoL!
In Australia, a bungalow is a small, self-contained one bedroom building, built in the backyard of a house. Most definitely not something to gloat over 😛
Generally poor people rent these buildings, as they can’t afford to buy, or even rent a small two-bedroom house.
I grinned every time I read the word bungalow in the story 😛
🙂
I m sure Gid will give him place to live thereafter, because he created thousands of jobs for thousands of families to live on preserving their dignity and pride.
Thx
only “if Allah wills” 🙂
Salam Amina
You may mean well with your comment but it is wrong for you to say, “you are sure”, I think you should rather say, “Insha-Allaah” because our actions are not a result of our own power instead it is the will of Allaah.