A young university student was walking with an old wise man when they came upon a pair of old shoes lying on the path. The student wanted to play a trick on the poor field worker who owned the shoes by hiding them, but the wise man suggested putting coins in the shoes instead to surprise the man. When the field worker found the coins in his shoes, astonishment and wonder were evident on his face as he gazed at the coins. The student was deeply affected by this act of kindness and realized the truth of saying that whoever relieves a believer of grief in this world will have grief relieved from them in the afterlife.

1. A young man,
a university student,
was one day taking a walk
Story from with an old wise man
Qisas.com
With some
modifications
By Junaid Qadir

2. As they went along,
they saw lying in the
path a pair of old
shoes.
They supposed that the
shoes must belong to
the poor man who works
in the field close by.

3. The student turned to the
old wise man saying:
“Let us play the man a
trick: we will hide his
shoes, and conceal
ourselves behind those
bushes, and wait to see
his perplexity when he
cannot find them.”

4. “My young friend, …”
answered the wise old man.
“We should never amuse
ourselves at the expense
of the poor. But you are
rich, and may give
yourself a much greater
pleasure by means of this
poor man. ””

5. The old wise man continued
“Put a coin in each shoe,
and then we will hide ourselves
and watch how this affects him.”

6. The poor man,
while putting on his coat,
slipped his foot in one of the shoes.
Feeling something hard,
he stooped down to feel what it was,
and found the coins.

7. Astonishment
and
wonder
were evident
on his face.

8. The poor man felt:
Fortunate
and
Very Happy

9. He gazed upon the coin
turned it around
and looked at it again and again.

10. The student stood there deeply affected.
The old man asked then:
“We did surprise the poor man,
but is this way not better”

11. The youth replied:
You have taught me a lesson which
I will never forget.
I feel now the truth of these words which I never understood before :

13. [Sahih Muslim]

14. It was related on the authority of Abu
Hurairah, radiyallahu 'anhu, that the Prophet,
sallallahu 'alayhi wasallam, said:
“ Whosoever relieves from a believer
some grief pertaining to this world, Allah
will relieve from him some grief
pertaining to the Hereafter”
[Sahih Muslim]