بِسْمِ اللّهِ الرَّحْمـَنِ الرَّحِيمِ
[But as for you, O believers,] never shall you attain to true piety unless you spend on others out of what you cherish yourselves; and whatever you spend - verily, God has full knowledge thereof. 3:92
Do consider Allah as better than you or at least at par
There is a well known story from Baluchistan whereby there was a Sufi saint, Pir Pathan living in the hills. A very pious and knowledgeable man. Once a young man from the town wanted to go pay a visit and maybe learn something. So he undertook this long arduous journey, starting off quite early in the morning, till he reached the abode of the saint just before maghrib prayers.
After washing up, praying and having refreshments, he approached the saint and said:
"Advise me O wise one !"
The saint, as is the way of the mysterious lovers of God, gave a cryptic advice:
"My son, do consider Allah as better than you. If you cannot do that, at least consider Him at par with yourself."
The youth was rather disappointed in this reply, as he was hoping to learn something valuable, or some secret knowledge. He thought: "Who will ever consider himself as better or even equal to Allah?"
Sensing the youth's disappointment, the saint said:
"My son, do hold on tight to this advice. Please. Do consider Allah as better than you. If you cannot do that, at least consider Him at par with yourself."
The youth decided there and then that this was a waste of time, and wanted to return home, but the saint asked him to stay the night and leave the next morning.
Early next morning, someone from the saint's family or disciples brought him breakfast at the place where he was staying. It was a strange breakfast. There were two portions of exquisite fresh bread, with butter, and honey. And two portions of dry stale bread, with some leftover curry. The youth was wondering. Before he started eating, he heard a voice:
"For the sake of Allah, please give me some food, I haven't eaten in several days."
Without any hesitation, the youth gave the person the bread and curry, and resumed his breakfast of bread with butter and honey.
The youth, grateful for the hospitality, went to take leave of the saint, when the saint grabbed his hand and said:
"Do hold on tight to what I said. Never forget my advice."
This really was the last straw for the youth so he retorted:
"Your hospitality is fine and all, but I feel that you are really saying something impolite in this advice. Who on earth will dare to think otherwise? Of course Allah is better than us."
Hearing this, the saint wept:
"O selfish one! If you really considered Allah better than you, wouldn't you have given the fresh bread and butter and honey to the hungry man, and kept the stale bread for yourself? O ignorant one, if you considered Allah at par with you, wouldn't you have at least given one fresh and one stale bread, and kept the other portion for yourself? Instead, what did you do? You kept the best meal for yourself and offered stale food to the one who asked for the sake of Allah. You did not follow my advice even for a day"
