Once there was a community
of Muslims who were small in number yet large in iman and strong in action.
So much so that, the kufaar [non-believers] could not defeat them in battle
even though they had the Muslims out numbered.
One day a young man from the kufaar
pretended to enter into Islam and he went to the big sheik [learned man]
in one part of the city and listened to his teaching of the Qur'an. The
subject happened to be on the chapter of the Qur'an called Al Kahaf [The
Cave, 18].
When the sheik completed his talk
he offered a chance for the brothers present to ask some questions. When
it came the turn of the kafar, he asked the sheik the question:
"Sir, in the story of the ‘sleepers’
in the cave, there is mention of a dog. And I was wondering if I might
inquire as to what colour the dog might have been? I hope you don’t mind
my asking, especially if it is something that maybe you don’t know the
answer to."
Immediately the sheik says to the
young man, "That’s no problem at all, everyone should know that the dog
was YELLOW."
The young man said, "Are you sure?
I mean, could it have been another colour?"
"No." replied the old sheik, "It
was definitely YELLOW." Once again the young man thanked him and when on
his way.
The next night the young kafr man
went to the other side of town and sat in another gathering of knowledge
and they too were discussing different things about verses in the Qur'an.
So when it came time for the teacher
to give each person attending, the opportunity to ask a question, the kafr
man raised his hand and then asked the question, "In the chapter about
the "Cave", the sleepers are mentioned in different numbers but each time
there is a reference to their dog as being counted along with them. Now
I was wondering whether or not anyone of knowledge has ever made any reference
to what the colour the dog might have been?"
The sheik immediately said, "Yes!
The dog in this story in the Qur'an was BLACK."
The young kafar man was pleased and
continued, "Sir, are you quite certain that the colour of the dog mentioned
in the story was BLACK?"
"Young man," he quickly replied,
"I’ll stake my reputation on that as a fact."
"Thank you, sir." Said the young
man.
The next night the kafar posing as
a Muslim went back to the first sheik and then when it came time for the
questions and answers he raised his hand and asked, "Sheik, may Allah reward
you for all your effort and knowledge and for sharing it with us. Could
you maybe remind me about the answer to the question the other night about
the colour of the dog in the cave in Surah Al-Kahaf?" [Surah 18 - The Cave].
The sheik said, "There is no doubt
whatsoever amongst the great scholars of Islam on this question. The dog
was YELLOW. And anyone who says other than this has no knowledge."
With that the young man spoke up
again and said, "Sir, what would you say if someone else said that he would
stake his reputation of being a scholar in Islam on the fact that the dog
is not yellow, but rather that the dog is most certainly BLACK?"
The sheik quickly replied, "Then
his reputation is not that of a scholar but one of a fool."
Now the next time the kafr man went
to the sheik that was upholding the idea of the dog being BLACK, he told
the sheik that the sheik on the other side of town was calling him names
and saying that he had no knowledge of Islam and that for sure that the
dog was YELLOW. The old sheik became angry and shouted, "You tell him,
that I said he is the one without knowledge. I’m the one who graduated
from the greatest of schools of Islam, while he is but a fool."
The plan was working. Before long
the community was divided into two groups. Each group was claiming that
their sheik was the one with the correct answer.
Fighting broke out in the streets
and the Muslims began attacking each other all over the city. Everyone
became involved to the extent that there was not a single person who was
excluded from this terrible situation. Screaming, shouting, hitting and
fighting were everywhere.
And then it happened. The kafr went
back out to his people and told them, "Let us go to fight them now. You
will now find them most easy to defeat."
And that is exactly what they did.