The Wall
Cup of Coffee
(An e-mail forward shared by a
friend)
I sat with my friend in a well-known coffee shop in a neighboring town
of Venice, the city of lights and water. As we enjoyed our coffee, a
man entered and sat on an empty table beside us. He called the waiter
and placed his order saying, ‘Two cups of coffee, one of them there on
the wall.’ We heard this order with rather interest and observed that
he was served with one cup of coffee
but he paid for two. As soon as he left, the waiter pasted a piece of
paper on the wall saying ‘A Cup of Coffee’.
While we were still there, two other men entered and ordered three cups
of coffee, two on the table and one on the wall. They had two cups of
coffee but paid for three and left. This time also, the waiter did the
same; he pasted a piece of paper on the wall saying, ‘A Cup of Coffee’.
It seemed that this gesture was a norm at this place.
owever, it was something unique and perplexing for us. Since we had
nothing to do with the matter, we finished our coffee, paid the bill
and left.
After a few days, we again had a chance to go to this coffee shop.
While we were enjoying our coffee, a man entered. The way this man was
dressed did not match the standard nor the atmosphere of this coffee
shop. Poverty was evident from the looks on his face.
As he seated himself, he looked at the wall and said, one cup of coffee
from the wall. The waiter served coffee to this man with the customary
respect and dignity. The man had his coffee and left without paying. We
were amazed to watch all this when the waiter took off a piece of paper
from the wall and threw it in the dust bin.
Now it was no surprise for us– the matter was very clear. The great
respect for the needy shown by the inhabitants of this town welled up
our eyes with tears.
Coffee is not a need of our society neither a necessity of life for us.
The point to note is that when we take pleasure in any blessing, maybe
we also need to think about those people who appreciate that specific
blessing as much as we do but they cannot afford to have it.
Note the character of this waiter, who is playing a consistent and
generous role to get the communication going between the affording and
the needy with a smile on his face.
Ponder upon this man in need….he enters the coffee shop without having
to lower his self-esteem…he has no need to ask for a free cup of
coffee…without asking or knowing about the one who is giving this cup
of coffee to him…he only looked at the wall, placed an order for
himself, enjoyed his coffee and left.
When we analyze this story, along with the other characters, we need to
remember the role played by the wall that reflects the generosity and
care of the dwellers of this town.
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Be
careful of rumours ...
... By Dr. Md. Asrarul Haque, Gurgaon
Last Friday
large number of Muslims started calling each other on phones during the
night. Reason was that few people in Mewat region (which lies partly in
Haryana and partly in Rajasthan) claimed that a face was visible in the
moon.
Incidentally,
the night was same which large numbers of Muslims in India and in
adjoining countries celebrated as "Baarah Wafaat" signifying the birth
of
Prophet Muhammad (SAW), although there is no authentic evidence that
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was born on the day. In fact historical facts are
against it. It is authentically known that Prophet Muhammad (SAW) was
born on a Monday and during several years when Prophet Muhammad (SAW)
was
supposed to have been born, it was never a Monday on 12th of the month.
Anyway, more important issue was the visibility of a face in the moon
and people saying that the face was of Prophet Muhammad (SAW). The news
spread quite
fast through phone calls and large numbers of people in different
places claimed to have observed the event.
On Sunday two persons, both of them Aalims, visited my place. The
senior one is about 65 yrs of age and the junior one about 40 yrs. Both
of them are wellmeaning
persons and sincere. They have established a good Madarsaa in Delhi and
renovated and reconstructed two mosques which were under encroachments.
Both of them lead prayers regularly in different mosques.
During their visit the junior person told that he too saw the face of
Prophet Muhammad (SAW) in the moon in that night.
I asked him a very simple question that no where in the world any
photograph or painting of the face of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) exists.
Then how could he
recognize that the face that was visible in the moon (even if some face
was visible there) was of Prophet Muhammad (SAW)?
He started thinking about my question and could not come out with any
answer.
The senior Aalim also supported my question. Finally, the junior one
agreed that it was not possible to identify the face of Prophet
Muhammad (SAW). Finally, he
repented on his mistake.
This is how rumors are spread and Muslims are misguided by Muslims.
Evan Ulema and well-meaning persons get into such traps unwittingly.
We need
to be very careful.
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