A ruler from centuries ago, Sultan Suqailah, was an easy sleeper, but one night,he couldn't fall asleep. As the minutes passed by during that night, he tossed and turned, trying as hard as he could to fall asleep. Finally, frustrated after numerous failed attempts, he decided that since he was awake anyway, he would get up and take care of some of his country's business. He summoned for the general of his small naval fleet to come to him, and when he came, Suqailah said, "send one of our ships to Africa, and tell the captain of the ship to bring back news of what is happening there."
Still not being able to fall asleep, Suqailah made his way to the docks later that night. Much to his chagrin,he saw that all his ships were still docked at the harbor. He angrily went to his general and said, "why didn't you carry out the orders I gave you?"
"In fact, I did carry out your orders," said the general. "I sent the ship and it set sail, but one hour after it had departed, it returned. But let us go to the captain of the ship, so that he can give you a firsthand account of what happened."
When they reached the captain, he began to give an account of what had taken place. "We set sail, and though we couldn't see anything because of the darkness of the night, we heard a man's voice calling out, 'O Allah, O Allah, O One Who helps those who call out for help!' We changed course and followed the sound of his voice, and as we drew nearer, we yelled out, 'We are coming to you.' Finally, when we reached him, we were able to see that he was drowning.
We quickly pulled him up to safety. He later told us that his ship had sunk and that for more than a day he was calling out for help, until we came and saved him."
How perfect is Allah, who made the sultan go sleepless in the castle, so that a man could be save from 3 kinds of darkness: the darkness of night, the darkness of the sea and the darkness of loneliness. How perfect Allah is indeed! And none has the right to be worshiped but Allah!
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