jealous day and night and tried all the time to degrade the new bride in front of the king, but they could not succeed in their evil plan. Once, the king went to fight a war for a long period of time. Seizing the opportunity, the other wives sent a letter to the king, saying, ‘In your absence, your new bride has become unfaithful to you and has even given birth to a baby.’ When the king received this letter, he sent a message to his mother, saying that the woman [i.e. his new wife] along with the baby be turned out of the country. Therefore, with a piece of cloth around her neck and the new-born baby in it, she was turned out of the country and forced to live in a remote jungle where she continued to wander here and there. She was very thirsty and reached a stream in search of water. As she bowed down to drink water, her child fell into the water and began to drown. Seeing her drowning son, she began to cry.

In the meantime, two beautiful young men came and asked her the reason for crying. She said, ‘My son has drowned and I am crying for the same reason, grieving for him.’ The beautiful young men asked, ‘Do you want us to bring your drowned child back to you?’ She anxiously said, ‘Yes, I want Allah Almighty to return me, my drowned child.’ These young men made Du’a and brought her drowned son back and handed him over to her. They then asked, ‘O kind-hearted woman! Do you want to be blessed with both of your hands once again so that you are no longer handicapped?’ She replied, ‘Yes, I want it.’ Therefore, the two young men made Du’a and she was blessed with her hands once again. The woman thanked Allah Almighty. The young men then asked: O great woman! Do you know who we are? The woman replied that she did not recognize them. They said, ‘We are the very same two rotis you gave to a helpless poor person.’ (‘Uyoon-ul-Hikayaat, vol. 1, pp. 226, summarised)

Dear Islamic brothers! It has been learnt that the Sadaqah given in the path of Allah Almighty for His pleasure does not prove fruitless. In addition to the Sawab (reward) of the Hereafter, one also receives many blessings in the world and remains safe from many troubles, as happened to this woman. She felt pity for a hungry person and gave him two rotis as Sadaqah for the pleasure of Allah Almighty. Even though she had to face difficulties for the time being – as other wives of the king conspired against her, both of her hands were cut off, she was turned out of the country and her son drowned