BISMILLAH IR RAHMAN IR RAHEEM The Sultan and the Minister WITH A QUIZ Adapted for children from an authentic tradition by (Anne Stephens) Khadeijah A. Darwish Copyright © 1984-2013 Allah.com Muhammad.com Mosque.com. All rights reserved. Free give away not for sale or resale There was once a Sultan called Khalid who lived in a very grand palace with beautiful gardens. He was loved by everyone and did his best to help those in need. Now as you know, a Sultan has many ministers to advise him. This Sultan was no exception, but there was one minister he liked very much who would offer him good advice and his name was Omar. Omar was wise and always looked for the good in everything, no matter if things went wrong he would always said, "Maybe some good will come because of it." One day, as the Sultan was busy sharpening his arrows ready to go hunting his knife slipped and accidentally cut off his finger! He was in a lot of pain and very upset indeed that he had lost his finger and feared he would never be able to go hunting again. Omar had not been in the palace when the Sultan had the accident, but as soon as he heard the news, he rushed to see his friend to try to comfort him. When he got to the palace, Omar realized just how unhappy the Sultan was and knew he was in a lot of pain. Omar tried to cheer him up as best as he could and then said to him, "Maybe some good will come because of it." The Sultan was very upset by Omar's words and became very, very angry, and thought to himself how could anyone say cutting his finger off could ever have any good in it! The Sultan was so angry that he called for his guards and told them to arrest Omar and throw him into prison. As the guards took Omar off to prison, the Sultan heard him say, "Maybe something good will come because of it" and Omar remained in prison for many years. Over the years the Sultan had got used to not having his finger and had become a very good archer once more so one day he called his ministers and told them he had decided that they would all go on a hunting trip in the jungle far away. Every one was excited and they prepared their caravans with supplies ready for the hunting trip. The day of departure soon arrived and the Sultan's servants waved to them as they left and wished them good luck. After many weeks of travel, the Sultan and the caravan reached the jungle and did not think anyone would live in such a place. But he was wrong, there were people and those people did not believe in Allah, they were idol worshipers and not very nice people at all. It was night time and the Sultan and his ministers said their night prayer and decided it was time to go to sleep under the star lit sky. Unknown to the Sultan the idol worshipers were hiding in the trees and waiting for the last of the ministers to go to sleep. As soon as everyone was asleep, they sent messengers back to their village with the news of the richly laden caravan, while the Sultan and his ministers slept peacefully and did not suspect there was danger nearby. When the chief of the idol worshipers heard the news he was delighted, especially when he heard about all the wonderful things in the caravan. So, the chieftain sent more idol worshipers back with the messengers to capture the Sultan and his ministers and to seize the caravan. Then to celebrate their good luck he prepared a village festival of thanksgiving to their gods. When the idol worshipers reached the caravan, they found the Sultan and his ministers still sleeping. Suddenly, the Sultan and his ministers were awakened by very loud shrieks as the idol worships swooped down upon the unsuspecting travelers and capture all of them. The idol worshipers bound their captives tightly and led them deeper into the jungle. As they approached their village, much to the horror of the Sultan and his ministers they saw large bonfires with flames leaping into the sky and huge idols decorated with flowers with pots of incense being burned as offerings. Men and women fell prostrate to the idols and they were chanting something that did not sound at all friendly. When the idol worshiping villagers saw the captives they rushed up and surrounded them then took them to their chieftain. The chieftain could not believe his eyes when he saw all the supplies and animals of the caravan and ordered that all of the captives should be sacrificed to their idols in thanksgiving for their good luck! One by one the ministers were sacrificed and now it was time for the Sultan to be sacrificed. They were just about to sacrifice the Sultan when they noticed one of his fingers was missing, and the rules of the tribe were that nothing imperfect should be sacrificed to their gods, and so the Sultan was set free. It was then that the Sultan realized what Omar had told him was in fact true and that some good had come from his loosing his finger! All the way home the Sultan praised and thanked Allah for saving him because of his missing finger, he felt that he had been very ungrateful to Allah all these years and also felt very sorry for sending Omar to prison. But one thing still puzzled him, it was that he had heard Omar say as the guards took him away to prison, "Maybe something good will come because of it!" At last the Sultan reached his palace, and the first thing he did was to go to the palace mosque and offer a prayer in thanksgiving for his safe return. Then he asked to be taken to Omar. Omar was happy to see his friend once again and to hear how the Sultan's severed finger had saved him from being sacrificed. The Sultan immediately ordered Omar's release and said, "I can understand now the good that came to me because of my severed finger, but what good has come to you for being in prison all these years." Omar just smiled and said, "If you had not put me in prison I would have gone with you on your hunting trip, and I too would have been sacrificed with the others. Al Hamdulillah, Allah spared me and you!" THE END NEW WORDS The vocabulary in "New Words" section is listed in the order of occurrence in the story. Sultan A sultan is like a king Minister A minister is a person who advises a sultan or a king Accidentally By mistake Archer An archer is a person who shoots with a bow and arrow Jungle A jungle is a place that is very wild and has a lot of trees. Lots of wild animals live there and there are no roads. Richly laden Lots of expensive supplies, in this story lots of food, pots and pans, carpets and tents. Shriek scream Bonfire a large fire built in the open air Incense perfumed smoke Chanting singing Ungrateful not thankful QUIZ TIME What was the name of the Sultan's favorite minister? What was the Sultan doing when he cut off his finger? What did Omar say to the Sultan that made him upset? What happened to Omar? What did the Sultan tell his ministers? Where did the Sultan and his ministers go? Were the Sultan and his ministers alone in the jungle? Who was hiding in the trees? Why didn't the idol worshipers sacrifice the Sultan? What good came to Omar who had been in prison? ANSWERS His favorite minister was Omar He was sharpening his arrows. "May be some good will com because of it." The Sultan sent him to prison. They would all be going on a hunting trip. They went to the jungle. No. Idol worshipers They did not sacrifice the Sultan because he did not have all his fingers. If Omar had gone on the hunting trip, then he would have gone on the hunting trip and been sacrifice. SCORE TIME 1-3 questions right? You tried hard, how about asking your parents to read the story again to you so you can get a better score? 4-5 good, well done! 6-8 very good indeed! 9-10 E X C E L L E N T, you did very well, we are proud of you!