The Shepherd Who Waited

The Prophet ﷺ once told a story about three men from the nations that came before his time. His Companion Abdullah ibn Umar heard it and passed it on.

The three men were walking together when the rain caught them. As night drew in, they hurried into a cave in the mountainside to shelter.

Then came a deep rumble. A great rock rolled down the mountain and landed across the mouth of the cave. The rain, the hillside, the sky: all of it was shut away behind solid stone.

In the darkness, they said to one another that only the truth could save them now: each of them should think of a good deed he had truly done for Allah's sake alone, and call on Him by it. Perhaps then He would open the way.

It sounds simple. But not just any good deed would do: it had to be one done purely for Allah, not for praise, not for gain, only for Him. Each man had to look back over his life, honestly.

The first man was a shepherd. "O Allah," he said, "I had parents who were very old, and I had small children, and I looked after my flock for their sake."

Every evening, he said, he milked his sheep and took the first bowl to his mother and father. Only once they had drunk did his children have theirs.

But one day, searching for grazing, he went much further than usual. When he came home, late at night, his parents were already asleep.

He milked the sheep just as he always did. He carried the bowl to them, and he stood by their heads as they slept.

What should he do? He did not want to wake them, nor to let them sleep without their drink. And he would not give the milk to his children first, even though the little ones were crying with hunger at his feet. It is a hard picture: his parents asleep, his little ones crying.

So he waited, standing, with the bowl in his hands.

Think how long a night is when you spend it on your feet, and how heavy even a small bowl would feel by the end of it. Yet he stayed where he was until the dawn came. Then his parents woke up, and they drank.

"O Allah," said the shepherd, there in the cave, "if I did that only to seek Your pleasure, then make an opening for us, so that we can see the sky."

And Allah moved the rock. Through the gap they could see the sky, but it was still too narrow for them to get out.

Then the second man spoke. He had once been about to do a great wrong to his cousin, something he wanted very much. She said to him, "Fear Allah," and he got up and walked away. "O Allah," he said, "if I did that only to seek Your pleasure, move the rock a little more." And Allah widened the gap, though it was still not wide enough.

Then the third man spoke. He had once hired a worker for a measure of rice, but the worker went off without his pay. So the man planted that rice for him, and kept on planting what it grew, until the harvests had paid for a herd of cows. When the worker came back for his wages, the man said, "Go and take those cows."

"Don't make fun of me," said the worker. "All you owe me is a measure of rice."

"I am not making fun of you," said the man. "They all came from your rice." And the worker herded every one of them away.

"O Allah," said the third man, "if I did that only to seek Your pleasure, remove the rest of the rock." And Allah moved the rock away completely. The way was open, and the three men walked out of the cave.

Imam al-Bukhari recorded this hadith in several places in his great collection. Above one of them he wrote this heading: the dua of someone who is dutiful to their parents is answered.

You will probably never stand all night holding a bowl. But that long night was made of small things: keeping quiet so that someone tired can rest, putting your parents first, and doing good for Allah alone.

So close your eyes now. Somewhere in your house, someone who loves you is getting ready for sleep too. Picture the shepherd in the hush of the night, the bowl held steady. And picture a thin strip of sky above three men in the dark, growing wider and wider, until they walk out free.