The Fable of the Porcupines

It was the coldest winter ever. Many animals died because of the cold.

The porcupines, realizing the situation, decided to group together to keep warm.

This way they covered & protected themselves;

but the quills of each one wounded their closest companions.

After a while, they decided to distance themselves one from the other & they began to die, alone & frozen.

So they had to make a choice..

Either accept the quills of their companions or disappear from the Earth. Wisely, they decided to go back to being together.

 

They learned to live with the little wounds caused by the close relationship with their companions in order to receive the warmth & heat that came from the others. This way they were able to survive.

 

Moral

• The best group is not the one that brings together perfect people, but when each individual learns to live with the imperfections of others & can admire the other person’s good qualities.

• Better to be surrounded by warm pricks than be frozen in solitude!

 

Quotes

 

And hold fast, all of you together, to the Rope of Allah (i.e. this Qur’an), and be not divided among yourselves , and remember Allah’s Favour on you, for you were enemies one to another but He joined your hearts together, so that, by His Grace, you became brethren (in Islamic Faith), and you were on the brink of a pit of Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus Allah makes His Ayat (proofs, evidence, verses, lessons, signs, revelations, etc.,) clear to you, that you may be guided.   [Quran; Ali-Imran 3: 103]

 

“Obey Allah and His Messenger and do not dispute with one another, otherwise you will fail and lose your strength. Have patience – Allah is with those who are patient.” [Quran; Al-Anfal,  8:46]

“The believers, both men and women, are awlia (helpers, supporters, allies) to each other…” [Quran; Al-Tawbah, 9:71]

 

“And among His signs is this: that He created mates for you from yourselves that you may find rest and peace of mind in them, and He ordained between you love and mercy. Certainly, herein indeed are signs for people who reflect.”
[Quran; Ar Rum; 30:21]

“All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves..”
 ~ Prophet Muhammad (s), Last Sermon.

 

The Prophet Muhammad (s) said, “None of you truly believes until he wishes for his brother what he wishes for himself.”
 ~ Bukhari and Muslim.

Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) said: “You will not enter paradise until you believe, and you will not believe until you love one another.”

~ Sahih Muslim

 

The Prophet Muhammad (s) said: “He will not enter Paradise whose neighbour is not secure from his wrongful conduct.”
 ~ Sahih Muslim, Hadith 15.

The Prophet Muhammad (s) said: “Anybody who believes in Allah and the Last Day should not harm his neighbor, and anybody who believes in Allah and the Last Day should entertain his guest generously, and anybody who believes in Allah and the Last Day should talk what is good or keep quiet (i.e. abstain from all kinds of evil and dirty talk).”
 ~ Narrated by Abu Hurayrah, Sahih Al Bukhari, Vol: 8 Hadith 47.

 

The Prophet Muhammad (s) said: “There is reward for kindness to every living thing.”
 ~ Bukhari and Muslim.

“There are many doors to goodness. (Saying) ‘glory to God,’ ‘praise be to God,’ ‘there is no deity but God,’ enjoining good, forbidding evil, removing harm from the road, listening to the deaf (until you understand them), leading the blind, guiding one to the object of his need, hurrying with the strength of one’s legs to one in sorrow who is asking for help, and supporting the weak with the strength of one’s arms – all of these are (forms of) charity prescribed for you.”
 ~ Prophet Muhammad (s) in Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 3, Number 98.

 

The Prophet Muhammad (s) said: “God is kind and likes kindness in all things.”
 ~ Rihadh us-Saleheen, Volume 1:633.

Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) also told us how Allah (swt) on the day of judgement will shade those believers who loved each other only for the sake of Allah (swt): “Allah (swt) will say on the day of Judgement: Where are those who loved each other for my sake? I will shade them today, when there is no shade but mine!”

~Sahih Muslim

 

“Whoever relieves a calamity that has struck a believer in this world, Allah will relieve for him one of the calamities of the day of Judgement, and whoever makes things easy for a person in trouble, Allah will make his matters easy in this life and in the hereafter, and whoever shields the faults of a Muslim, Allah will shield his faults in this world and the hereafter, and Allah will help and support his servant as long as he is helping and supporting his brother”

~Sahih Muslim

 

“The most beloved people to Allah (swt) are those who help and benefit others the most, and the most beloved actions to Allah (swt), is pleasure and happiness that you cause to enter the heart of a Muslim, or to solve one of his problems, or to pay off his debt, or to prevent him from being hungry, and working to help my Muslim brother is more beloved to me than making I’tikaf in this masjid for a month, and whoever controls his anger, Allah will conceal his faults, and whoever controls his ill feelings, Allah (swt) will fill his heart with contentment on the day of Judgment, and whoever strives to help fulfill a need for his Muslim brother, Allah will make his feet steadfast on the day of Judgment, and bad manners ruin good deeds just like vinegar ruins honey.”

[Sheikh Al-Albani said it is a sound hadith]

 

“There are three things that if one has them, he will find the sweetness of faith. That Allah and His messenger be more beloved to him than anything else, that he love a person for no reason other than for the sake of Allah, and to hate to go back to disbelief as much as he hates to be thrown into fire.”

~Sahih Al-Bukhari

 

Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) said: “Stay with the group (of righteous Muslims), for the wolf eats the sheep that strays away from the herd”

[Ahmad and Al-Tirmidhi]

 

The Prophet Muhammad (s) said: “Be kind, for whenever kindness becomes part of something, it beautifies it. Whenever it is taken from something, it leaves it tarnished.”
 ~Imam Bukhari’s Book of Muslim Manners.

 

“The most beloved people to Allah (swt) are those who help and benefit others the most, and the most beloved actions to Allah (swt), is pleasure and happiness that you cause to enter the heart of a Muslim, or to solve one of his problems, or to pay off his debt, or to prevent him from being hungry, and working to help my Muslim brother is more beloved to me than making I’tikaf in this masjid for a month, and whoever controls his anger, Allah will conceal his faults, and whoever controls his ill feelings, Allah (swt) will fill his heart with contentment on the day of Judgment, and whoever strives to help fulfill a need for his Muslim brother, Allah will make his feet steadfast on the day of Judgment, and bad manners ruin good deeds just like vinegar ruins honey.”

[Sheikh Al-Albani said it is a sound hadith]

 

“Those who work for you are your brothers. Allah has made them your assistants.”
 ~Bukhari and Tirmidhi.

 

Let us implement the example of the tribe of Al-Asharieen, which the Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) praised by saying: “If they go through hardship and if the food is not enough for their kids, they gather all of what they have in one place, and then they will divide it equally amongst each other. They are from me, and I am from them!”

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Resources:

– The fable has been shared by Sheikh Alaa Elsayed on his Facebook page on 1/5/15 –

– http://theislamicworkplace.com/positive-quotes/

– http://40hadithnawawi.com/index.php/the-hadiths/hadith-13

– http://al-islami.com/islam/unity/brotherhood.php

Image Credits

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