This Prophetic narrative chronicled the case of a king, a magician, a monk and a boy. As for the king, he has attained the peak in hard-heartedness, frowardness and wickedness in that he ordered the murder of his own courtier, and the monk by placing a saw on the middle of, and splitting asunder their heads. After his woeful attempt to cause the death of the boy by myriad means, the haughty king stooped to receive instruction from the boy on how to kill him.
And finally, the ditches were dug and the inferno underneath kindled at his behest; the faithful were plunged therein for no other offence than their persistence in faith.
The magician had perfected the art of sorcery that he was part of the king’s advisers. Sorcery, as we saw in the narrative, took the place of religion and faith in Allah that even the magician was afraid of dying before he passed his evil knowledge to the next generation, thus his request for a boy to learn sorcery under his tutelage.
As for the monk he secluded himself in his monastery exhorting people concerning their Cherisher and Maker. His divine words had a positive effect on the boy who was anointed by the king in order to serve as an intergenerational link in sorcery.
The monk found the boy’s sincere zeal and inclination to the truth, thus he imprinted on the boy’s mind that da’wah in Allah’s religion is not devoid of tribulations, and that he should keep his association with the monk a top secret in case he was tried in his faith.
Unfortunately, the boy could not keep the secret for long due to intense torture.
The boy was the main protagonist in the narrative in that every major event revolved around him; he was on a scene with the courtier, the monk, the king who chose him to be the next depository of sorcery, and finally, he also met the sorcerer, but, from all indications, and Allah knows best, he did not learn sorcery, and even if he did, he did not practice it.
He was always late for his classes with the sorcerer due to his attachment with the monk until Allah opened with heart for faith and granted him the ability to perform karaamah, miracles (as the likes worked by saints, not prophets) which caused multitudes to declare their belief in Allah.
In his position with the king, the boy exhibited rare perseverance, resilience and staunch trust in Allah by refusing to forsake his religion at the face of unbearable torment.
Allah saved him from the tyrant and his hosts in their various attempts to slay him; first, by hurling him from the summit of the mountain; and, second, by drowning. The king’s executioners, in both cases, were annihilated by Allah.
The boy did not waver in the face off with the despot until he paid the ultimate price, and in the process revealing the truth and the essence of Allah’s religion to the people.
‘You will not be able to kill me’ he said, ‘unless you do what I shall command…’
It is evident that faith in Allah has transformed a frail boy to a personage capable of barking orders at the king. And since he was looking for ways to kill the boy by any means necessary, the king bowed to the boy’s instructions: “Gather the people in one elevated place and tie me to the trunk of a tree; then take an arrow from my quiver and say:
`In the Name of Allah, the Lord of the boy.' If you do this, you will be able to kill me.''
Apparently, the boy’s goal was limited to making known the truth to all the people, and calling attention to the fact that there is only One true God who gives life and causes death; the king was but a feeble mortal who has no control over bringing benefit or harm to anyone!
Since all will ultimately die, the boy has chosen the best way of exit.
Yes, there is a mighty distance between those who are afraid of death and those who crave for it in the cause of Allah; between those who will perish in pursuit of the fleeting enjoyment of this life and those who will be martyred in the front lines of jihad seeking Allah’s Countenance.
After the king had obeyed the boy’s command, and was able, through that obedience, to kill him, what the king dreaded and had been trying to avoid happened: the conversion of hundreds of thousands of people to the religion of the boy; people declaring their faith in the Lord of the worlds.
This unexpected outcome devastated the king; he became so distraught that he resorted to the only option that every froward potentate takes refuge in to avoid verity: torture and persecution.
He, therefore, ordered that whoever persists in their faith in Almighty Allah should be plunged into the conflagrant ditches which were dug in large numbers on major arteries to the city.
Whoever is engaged in da’wah work should: 1) be ready to be tried, exposed to adversity in the course of discharging the task of propagating Islam; 2) be prepared to sacrifice whatever they possess of honour, position and wealth for the success of their mission of conveying Allah’s message to the people; 3) use the most effective medium in passing their message across and making it stick in the minds of listeners, even if that will cause one to pay the ultimate price; 4) be patient all through whatever ordeal they have to face; 5) be unwavering in the beliefs they are trying to propagate.