Condition of the Rich

The condition of rich is such that they sit in comfort while the fan is available, and the servant serves them tea. The servant is chastised if there is any minute deficiency in it, whether sugar in the tea is less or more, they become filled with rage and are angry with the servant. When they are extremely angry, they even start beating their servants...

They do not realize that just as the servant is also a human being and can make a mistake or can commit omission, so is the rich also a human being.

I remember a story about King Harun ar-Rashid. He had a housemaid. One day as she made the king’s bed, she found it fluffy, soft, and perfumed. She thought of lying on the bed to find out how comfortable it was. She laid on the bed and fell asleep.

The king arrived and was very angry to see her sleeping in his bed. She was punished with lashes.

When she was being punished, she cried as well as laughed at the same time. The king asked her the reason for this. She said, ‘I am crying due to the pain inflicted by the lashes; I am laughing just thinking that I have been given this punishment for sleeping in this bed just for a few moments; only God knows how much punishment those will receive who always sleep in this comfort.’

(Malfuzat, Vol. 7, p. 114–115)