Of Dreams, Love and Sacrifice...

Some time ago a friend share a story on Facebook from Paulo Coelho's blog about a dream of a traveler.

Abd Mubarak was on his way to Mecca. One night he dreamt a conversation between two angles, that goes as follows....

" “How many pilgrims came to the holy city this year?” one of them asked.
“Six hundred thousand”, answered the other.
“And how many of them had their pilgrimage accepted?”
“None of them. However, in Baghdad there is a shoemaker called Ali Mufiq who did not make the pilgrimage, but did have his pilgrimage accepted, and his graces benefited the 600,000 pilgrims”.
When he woke up, Abd Mubarak went to Mufiq’s shoe shop and told him his dream.
“At great cost and much sacrifice, I finally managed to get 350 coins together”, the shoemaker said in tears. “But then, when I was ready to go to Mecca I discovered that my neighbors were hungry, so I distributed the money among them and gave up my pilgrimage”."

Hajj the most sacred pilgrim in Islam, the journey to the Land of Mecca to Visit the Holy and most Sacred house of Allah, a burning and cherished passion in the hearts of its followers. Mufiq gave up this dream, this burning desire, to help his starving neighbours, his brethern in Islam!

What we learn from Mufiq's story is....

Its the intention behind every act that matters most to God, the purpose of our prayes is to please God and gain His blessings...

God is everywhere around us, to have His eternal love and blessings we have to look around ourselves first, rather than seeking far away, as the saying goes, "your treasure is where your home is..." 

And last of all, Sacrifice. Sacrificing our dreams and passions for a greater cause never goes unrewarded, its not only the satisfaction of doing the right thing, but also the firm believe and faith that this sacrifice will never go wasted, because of the purity of heart with which it was rendered!