Ali Ataie – Your Kingdom on Earth is Not Worth More Than a Cup of Water

There was a certain king who had it

all except

gratitude, so he was discontent.

1 of my teachers told this this parable.

He said this certain king, he had it

all, but he didn't have gratitude. And he

would go on walks outside of his,

outside of his castle, in the woods outside

of his castle, and he noticed a pauper,

a very poor man

next to a tree. And this poor man,

he had a glass of water. He had

some a little crust of bread,

barely any clothes to cover his, but this

pauper, this poor man, he was singing the

praises of Allah

So the king approached him and said, why

are you so happy? You have nothing.

And the man said, why shouldn't I be?

I have it all. I have water. I

have some food. I have clothes that cover

my aura. I have blue skies. The birds

are chirping. I have my health.

I have the zikr of Allah

spinning in my heart and in my tongue.

Why shouldn't I be happy?

And this man was an ariz billah,

this pauper, and he recognized the king. Is

why are you so unhappy? You're the king.

And the king said, I don't know. I

have it all, but I'm unhappy. So the

pauper said to the king, if you were

stranded in the desert

and you were going to die of thirst,

how much of your kingdom would you give

for a half a glass of water?

How much of your kingdom would you give

for half a glass of water? And the

king said, half of my kingdom,

I would give. And the man said to

him, if you drank that water and you

could not excrete it out of your body

and it was going to cause an infection

and kill you, how much of your kingdom

would you give to get rid of that

glass of water from your body. He said

the other half of my kingdom. So the

pauper said your entire kingdom is worth a

glass of water. I have that here. I

also have some bread. I have blue skies.

I have clothes that cover my aura. I

have the birds chirping. I have my health,

and I have the dhikr of Allah

in my heart and spinning on my tongue.

What more can I want?

This parable is obviously meant to be hyperbolic,

but you get the point.

Just be grateful.

Be content. Be in a state of taslim

to the Qadr of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.

Because continuous

ingratitude

and an obsession

for earthly justice

is upstream

to discontentment

with Allah's qadr, and that is dangerous.