He Tolerated the Harm of His Christian Neighbor for 20 Years
Assalaamu 'Alaikum Wa Rahmatullahi Wa Barakatuhu
In the name of Allah, the All-Merciful, the Most Merciful
“He Tolerated the Harm of His Christian Neighbor for 20 Years Which Was the Reason for His Acceptance of Islam
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This is a clear example from the Salaf (i.e. pious predecessors) of how to call to the religion of Allah indirectly with your character, as sometimes calling a person directly may not prove the most effective way. Many accepted Islam because of hearing about the divine character of Prophet Muhammad (Sallahu alaihi wa salam), even before they met him…as all of us did!
Hassan Al Basree (Rahimahillah) had a neighbor who was a Christian. This neighbor had a toilet on the roof of his apartment and it used to leak through a hole in the roof of Hassan Al Basree’s apartment. Hassan placed a bucket beneath the hole to catch the urine that would leak through it and discard the contents at the end of each day. This continued for 20 years.
Then one day, Hassan fell ill and his Christian neighbor came to visit him. When he entered, the neighbor noticed the bucket of urine that was leaking through the hole in his ceiling and asked Hassan astoundingly: “How long have you been tolerating this harm from me?!” Hassan replied: “For 20 years!”
So the Christian neighbor took off his belt (which was the clothing of the Christians during that time) and accepted Islam…!
