Three Ministers
A king once called his three ministers and asked them to take a bag and go to the garden of the palace. Then he went there and ordered them to fill their bags with good fruits. He also told them that no one should help each other. The three ministers were surprised by this order of the king. But there was nothing to be done. The king ordered. So they each took a bag and went to the garden.
One minister filled his bag with the best fruits to please the king. Another thought that the king, who was endowed with immense wealth, did not need so many fruits. So, due to negligence and laziness, he filled the bag with all kinds of fruits that were at hand, without sorting out the good from the bad. And the third did not believe that the king would see what they had filled in their bags. So he filled the bag with various vines, leaves, straw and leaves of trees.
The next day they appeared in the king's court. Then the king called his soldiers and ordered the three ministers to be imprisoned for three months and to give them the bags as food. He also ordered that no one should visit them during the three months and that they should not be given any other food.
The first one passed the three months comfortably by eating the best fruits. The second one passed the three months with great difficulty by eating the best fruits he had collected. And the third one died of hunger before completing a month.
Advice: Worldly life is like that garden. People have the freedom to achieve both good deeds and bad deeds. But when Allah, the King, imprisons us in the prison called the grave, which deed will be useful there? Surely good deeds! Therefore, consider each day of this temporary life as the last day of your life. Keep track of how much good deeds you can accumulate for the Hereafter every day. May Allah help us - Amen.
