Three Valleys and a Traveller

The Prophet ﷺ once told this story, and Abu Hurayrah heard him tell it. Long ago, among the Children of Israel, the Bani Isra'il, there lived three men.

The first had a disease of the skin, and people kept away from him. The second was bald from an illness, and people kept away from him too. The third was blind. Allah, who knows all things, willed to test them, and He sent them an angel.

The angel came first to the man with the skin disease and asked, "What would you love most?"

"A good colour and good skin," said the man, "for people keep away from me."

The angel touched him, the illness left, and he was given a good colour and good skin. Then the angel asked, "And what wealth would you love most?"

"Camels."

So he was given a she-camel soon to have a calf. "May Allah bless it for you," said the angel.

Next the angel asked the bald man the same question. "Good hair," he said, "and for this illness to leave me, for people keep away from me." The angel touched him, the illness left, and he was given good hair. He asked for cows, and was given a cow expecting a calf. "May Allah bless it for you," said the angel.

Then the angel asked the blind man. "That Allah gives me back my sight," he said, "so that I can see people."

Even his wish had Allah's name in it. The angel touched him, and Allah gave him back his sight. He asked for sheep, and was given a sheep expecting a lamb.

Seasons came and went. Calves and lambs were born, grew up, and had young of their own. In the end, one man had a valley full of camels, one a valley full of cows, and one a valley full of sheep. Imagine the hillsides: grumbling camels, lowing cattle, softly bleating sheep.

Then the angel came back.

He came to the first man in the very form the man used to have: poor, with a disease of the skin. "I am a poor man," he said. "Everything I had for my journey has run out, and today there is no way for me to get where I am going, except by Allah, and then by you. I ask you, by the One who gave you your good colour, your good skin and all this wealth: give me a camel to carry me on my way."

One camel. Out of a valley full.

"I have many obligations," said the man.

"I think I know you," said the angel. "Weren't you the man with the skin disease, whom people kept away from? Weren't you poor, and then Allah gave you all this?"

"I inherited all this," said the man, "from my forefathers, generation after generation."

But that whole valley had begun with one camel, and we know exactly where that camel came from.

"If you are lying," said the angel, "may Allah make you as you were before."

Then the angel went to the bald man, looking just as the bald man once had, and said the same. The bald man gave the same answer, and the angel said the same: "If you are lying, may Allah make you as you were before."

Last of all, the angel came to the man who had once been blind, looking just as the man once had: poor, and blind. "I am a poor man and a traveller," he said. "Everything I had for my journey has run out, and today there is no way for me to go on, except by Allah, and then by you. I ask you, by the One who gave you back your sight: give me a sheep to help me on my way."

This man answered not with an excuse, but with a memory.

"I was blind, and Allah gave me back my sight. I was poor, and Allah made me rich. So take whatever you wish. By Allah, whatever you take for Allah's sake today, I will not make it hard for you."

The angel said, "Keep your wealth. You three were only being tested. Allah is pleased with you, and displeased with your two companions."

Three men, each given healing, an animal and, in the end, a valley. Each heard the same kind of reminder: by the One who gave you… Two pushed it away. Only one said, out loud, where it had all come from.

So tonight, why not do what the third man did? Remember. The body that carried you through today. The people who love you. The warm bed beneath you. Say Alhamdulillah for each one, slowly, like counting sheep, a whole valley of them. Then let your eyes close, and rest.