The Story Of A Fisherman

There once lived a fisherman, he only caught one fish at a time. One day, as his wife was chopping up the fish, she discovered something amazing. She found a pearl inside the fish. She was astonished, a pearl inside a fish?? 


SubhanAllah (Praise be to Allah). 


She exclaimed, "Husband! Look what I’ve found!" 


"What have you found?" he asked? "


I have found a pearl inside the fish!" she answered.” 


He became happy said: ”Bring me the pearl, perhaps we will benefit from it and eat food other than fish!"


The fisherman took the pearl to a pearl trader. The trader took a look at the pearl "This pearl is so precious, but unfortunately I cannot afford it even if I were to sell my shop and my house! Go to the wholesaler in the nearby town, perhaps he can buy it from you."


The fisherman took the pearl to the wholesaler in the nearby town and showed him the pearl. "By Allah, what a priceless possession! I cannot buy it from you, but I’ve a solution for you; go to the governor of this town, as only he his able to buy this pearl.” At the door of the governor's palace the fisherman awaited permission to enter.


“Oh God! It is a pearl that I’ve been searching for! I do not know how to value it for you, but I will allow you to enter into my private treasure chamber. You have six hours to remain in it and take what you please, and this is the value of your pearl. "Sir, can you just give me two hours, as six hours is far too long for a fisherman like me.” 


“No, six hours is what is fair for you take from the chamber what you like"


The fisherman entered the governor's treasure chamber to behold a tremendous sight. It was a very large room divided into to three sections. The first section was filled with jewels, gold and pearls. The second section had a huge and very comfortable bed. The third section was filled with all the delicious food and drink that one can imagine.


"What will I do in six hours? Six hours is such a long time for a simple fisherman like me" the fisherman asked himself. 


"Ok, I guess I should start with the food in the third section" "I will eat until my stomach is full so that I will gain the necessary energy required to accumulate as much gold as possible."


The fisherman went to the food and spent a whole two hours eating. He then made his way to the first section. “I ate until I became full, so why not sleep for a bit and wake up fresh so that I can carry the greatest amount of gold?" he asked himself. "This is a once in a life time opportunity, and what foolishness will prevent me from wasting it"


The fisherman went to the bed and fell into a deep sleep. After a while the fisherman was awoken by these words "Wake up, ignorant fisherman, your time is up"


"Huh! What?" "Yes, come on get out!" "Please I did not get the chance." "Huh! You have been in here for six hours and only now you have woken up from your sleep, yet you still want to take some gems?" 


"You had the time and opportunity to take away all of this treasure and then you could have bought with it the best food and you could have made yourself the most comfortable bed! But you are an ignorant fool and can only think in the background, which you are in!"


------------------


The story has ended, however the lesson does not end here.


The pearl in the story represents your soul, a priceless treasure, and you don’t know the true value of your soul.


The treasure chamber represents the life of this world (dunya), how great it looks; yet we exploit it.


The jewels in the chamber represent our good deeds 


The comfortable bed represents our carelessness.


The food and drink represent our desires.


And now, you should decide; should you wake up and get out of the comfortable bed and collect as many jewels available to you before your time is up. The time in this world is for winning your lifetime. Otherwise you will feel great regret when leaving this world.