THE DISBELIEVER REJECTS BEAUTY

THE DISBELIEVER REJECTS BEAUTY

One day a man fainted immediately on coming into the perfumers market. The scent of the perfume from their stalls hit him. His head reeled and he fell on the spot. It was noon when he fainted, and lay like a dead body, in the middle of the road.

The people gathered around him. They were all saying, “There is no strength but by Allah.” Everybody tried a remedy.

One put his hand on his heart. Another sprinkled rose-water. He did not know that it was the smell of the rose-water which had caused the disaster. Another massaged his hands and head. One made incense from Aloes wood and sugar. Another took some of his clothing off.

One felt his pulse to see if it was beating. Another smelt his breath to find out if he had drunk wine or eaten hashish.

Nobody, however, could understand why he had fainted.

They quickly brought the news to his family, “ So-and-so is lying there in a faint. No one knows how it happened, or what led to it.”

The man worked at tanning the dead animal skins to turn them into leather. This is a smelly and dirty job. He used many dirty ingredients such as dung. Many old –time crafts-people used dung and urine and other foul things.

He had a brother who was clever and wise and he came immediately and in a great hurry. He carried a small amount of dog’s dung up his sleeve.

The brother cut his way through the crowd and approached. He was very upset. “I know” said he, “from where his illness comes. When you know the cause, the cure is obvious. When you don’t know the cause, the remedy for the illness is difficult to find.”

He said to himself, “The smell of dog’s dung has filled his brain and even his veins. When he works as a tanner, he is up to his waist in filth, seeking his livelihood.

“The great Greek doctor Galen said, “Give the patient what he is used to. His illness comes from doing something against his habit. Find his remedy from his habits.”

“He is a tanner, and so he is used to carrying dung. He has become like a dung-beetle, which also faints because of rose-water. His medicine is the same dung which he is used to.”

The young man drove the people back. He did not want them to see his treatment.

He came close to his brother’s ear, as if he was telling him a secret. Then he put his hand close to his nose, because he had rubbed the dog’s dung on his palm.

A little time passed. Then the man began to move. The people said, “This is an amazing charm. This young man recited charms into his ear. He was dead and the charms revived him.”

The disbelievers who cannot stand to hear the Qur’an and to hear about Allah and His Messenger (SAAS) are like this man.  They are so used to digusting dirty things that beautiful and fragrant things make them pass out and faint.