The Bald, the Leper and the Blind

1. Chapter 1

   The Leper: Healthy Skin and a Pregnant She-Camel

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   The Prophet ﷺ told his companions about three men from the Children of Israel: a leper, a bald man and a blind man. Allah willed to test them, so He sent them an angel. The hadith is in al-Bukhari (3464) and Muslim (2964), narrated by Abu Hurayrah.

   Before we begin, here is the key to the whole story: the test is not only in poverty, it is in wealth too.

   Surah Al-Anbya 21:35

   Verified recitation

   Open surah

   كُلُّ نَفْسٍۢ ذَآئِقَةُ ٱلْمَوْتِ ۗ وَنَبْلُوكُم بِٱلشَّرِّ وَٱلْخَيْرِ فِتْنَةًۭ ۖ وَإِلَيْنَا تُرْجَعُونَ 35

   Every soul will taste death. And We test you with evil and with good as trial; and to Us you will be returned.

   ReciteRecitersMishary Rashid AlafasyMaher Al MuaiqlyAbdul Basit Abdul SamadMahmoud Khalil Al-HusaryMohamed Siddiq El-MinshawiAbdurrahman As-SudaisAbu Bakr Ash-ShaatreeAli Al-HudhaifyAhmed ibn Ali Al-Ajamy

   The angel came first to the leper, a man whose skin disease made people keep away from him. He asked him: "What would you love most?" He said: "Good colour and good skin. People find me repulsive."

   Notice that the first thing he asked for was not money. He wanted to be a person others could come near again. That was the leper's real wound: loneliness.

   The angel wiped over him, the disease left him, and he was given good colour and good skin. Then the angel asked: "Which wealth would you love most?" He said: camels. So he was given a she-camel close to giving birth, and the angel said: "May Allah bless it for you."

   One camel only. A very small start. That is deliberate, because everything that follows comes from Allah's blessing, not from the man's cleverness or effort alone.

   Al-Anbiya: 35

   Lessons

   • The test comes through good as well as hardship
   • What hurts most is sometimes rejection, not poverty
   • Small beginnings can carry great blessing

2. Chapter 2

   The Bald Man: Good Hair and a Pregnant Cow

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   Then the angel came to the bald man, whose hair had fallen out through illness. He asked him the same question: "What would you love most?" He said: "Good hair, and for this to leave me, because people find me repulsive."

   Almost the same sentence: "people find me repulsive". Two different men, one pain. Both knew exactly what life is like when people keep their distance.

   The angel wiped over him, it left him, and he was given good hair. Then he asked: "Which wealth would you love most?" He said: cows. So he was given a pregnant cow, and the angel said: "May Allah bless it for you."

   Here the lesson that becomes clear at the end begins. Everything in both men's hands now came from one place:

   Surah An-Nahl 16:53

   Verified recitation

   Open surah

   وَمَا بِكُم مِّن نِّعْمَةٍۢ فَمِنَ ٱللَّهِ ۖ ثُمَّ إِذَا مَسَّكُمُ ٱلضُّرُّ فَإِلَيْهِ تَجْـَٔرُونَ 53

   And whatever you have of favour, it is from Allah. Then when adversity touches you, to Him you cry for help.

   ReciteRecitersMishary Rashid AlafasyMaher Al MuaiqlyAbdul Basit Abdul SamadMahmoud Khalil Al-HusaryMohamed Siddiq El-MinshawiAbdurrahman As-SudaisAbu Bakr Ash-ShaatreeAli Al-HudhaifyAhmed ibn Ali Al-Ajamy

   The verse describes people precisely: when harm touches them, they turn to Allah and raise their voices in prayer. When blessing arrives, they may forget where it came from.

   The question this chapter puts to the reader: if you were given today what you badly wish for, would you remember in ten years what you were like before it?

   An-Nahl: 53

   Lessons

   • Every blessing in a person's hand is from Allah
   • People turn to Allah in hardship and may forget Him in ease
   • Remembering life before a blessing is a door to gratitude

3. Chapter 3

   The Blind Man: Sight Restored and a Breeding Ewe

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   Then the angel came to the blind man and asked: "What would you love most?" He said: "That Allah return my sight to me, so I can see people."

   Look at the difference in the answer. The leper and the bald man said: good colour, good hair. The blind man said: "That Allah return my sight to me." He attributed it to Allah from his first word. And he asked for sight to see people, not so that people would admire him.

   The angel wiped over him, and Allah returned his sight. Then he asked: "Which wealth would you love most?" He said: sheep. So he was given a ewe ready to breed.

   Then the years passed. The Prophet ﷺ said: "These two bred and this one bred, until one had a valley of camels, one a valley of cows, and one a valley of sheep."

   One camel became a whole valley. One cow became a valley. One ewe became a valley. All three became rich.

   Here comes the big question: is wealth a sign that Allah is pleased with you? The Quran answers:

   Surah Al-Fajr 89:15-16

   Verified recitation

   Open surah

   فَأَمَّا ٱلْإِنسَٰنُ إِذَا مَا ٱبْتَلَىٰهُ رَبُّهُۥ فَأَكْرَمَهُۥ وَنَعَّمَهُۥ فَيَقُولُ رَبِّىٓ أَكْرَمَنِ 15 وَأَمَّآ إِذَا مَا ٱبْتَلَىٰهُ فَقَدَرَ عَلَيْهِ رِزْقَهُۥ فَيَقُولُ رَبِّىٓ أَهَٰنَنِ 16

   And as for man, when his Lord tries him and is generous to him and favours him, he says, "My Lord has honoured me." But when He tries him and restricts his provision, he says, "My Lord has humiliated me."

   ReciteRecitersMishary Rashid AlafasyMaher Al MuaiqlyAbdul Basit Abdul SamadMahmoud Khalil Al-HusaryMohamed Siddiq El-MinshawiAbdurrahman As-SudaisAbu Bakr Ash-ShaatreeAli Al-HudhaifyAhmed ibn Ali Al-Ajamy

   Allah called generosity with wealth a "trial", and called restricted provision a "trial". So the three valleys were not the prize. They were the exam paper.

   Al-Fajr: 15-16

   Lessons

   • Attributing a blessing to Allah from the first moment marks a grateful heart
   • Wealth is not proof of Allah's pleasure, nor poverty of His anger
   • Wealth is the exam paper, not the prize

4. Chapter 4

   The Test: A Poor Traveller Stranded on the Road

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   Years later, the angel returned to the leper in his old form and appearance: a poor leper. He said: "A poor man whose means have run out on my journey. I have no way to reach my destination today except through Allah and then you. I ask you, by the One who gave you good colour, good skin and wealth, for one camel to carry me on my journey."

   He asked for one camel. From a man who owned a whole valley of camels.

   The leper said: "My obligations are many." The angel said: "I seem to know you. Were you not a leper whom people found repulsive, a poor man whom Allah enriched?" He said: "I inherited this wealth from my forefathers."

   He denied his entire past. He claimed the wealth came from his ancestors. Qarun had said the same thing before him:

   Surah Al-Qasas 28:78

   Verified recitation

   Open surah

   قَالَ إِنَّمَآ أُوتِيتُهُۥ عَلَىٰ عِلْمٍ عِندِىٓ ۚ أَوَلَمْ يَعْلَمْ أَنَّ ٱللَّهَ قَدْ أَهْلَكَ مِن قَبْلِهِۦ مِنَ ٱلْقُرُونِ مَنْ هُوَ أَشَدُّ مِنْهُ قُوَّةًۭ وَأَكْثَرُ جَمْعًۭا ۚ وَلَا يُسْـَٔلُ عَن ذُنُوبِهِمُ ٱلْمُجْرِمُونَ 78

   He said, "I was only given it because of knowledge I have." Did he not know that Allah had destroyed before him of generations those who were greater than him in power and greater in accumulation of wealth?

   ReciteRecitersMishary Rashid AlafasyMaher Al MuaiqlyAbdul Basit Abdul SamadMahmoud Khalil Al-HusaryMohamed Siddiq El-MinshawiAbdurrahman As-SudaisAbu Bakr Ash-ShaatreeAli Al-HudhaifyAhmed ibn Ali Al-Ajamy

   The angel said: "If you are lying, may Allah return you to what you were." Then he came to the bald man in his old form, said the same to him, and he answered just as the leper had. The angel said: "If you are lying, may Allah return you to what you were."

   Then he came to the blind man in his old form: "A poor man and a traveller whose means have run out on my journey. I have no way to reach my destination today except through Allah and then you. I ask you, by the One who returned your sight to you, for one sheep to carry me through my journey."

   The blind man said: "I was blind and Allah returned my sight, and I was poor and He made me rich. Take whatever you wish. By Allah, I will not hold back from you today anything you take for Allah's sake."

   He did not give him a sheep. He said: take whatever you wish. And he admitted his past without shame.

   The angel said: "Keep your wealth. You were only being tested. Allah is pleased with you, and displeased with your two companions."

   What the story teaches

   	The leper and the bald man	The blind man
   When asking for the blessing	Asked for looks that please people	Said: that Allah return my sight
   When the beggar came	Said: my obligations are many	Said: take whatever you wish
   His past	Denied it: inherited from my forefathers	Remembered it: I was blind and poor
   The outcome	Allah was displeased with him	Allah was pleased with him, and he kept his wealth

   The Quranic rule that sums up the story:

   Surah Ibrahim 14:7

   Verified recitation

   Open surah

   وَإِذْ تَأَذَّنَ رَبُّكُمْ لَئِن شَكَرْتُمْ لَأَزِيدَنَّكُمْ ۖ وَلَئِن كَفَرْتُمْ إِنَّ عَذَابِى لَشَدِيدٌۭ 7

   And when your Lord proclaimed: If you are grateful, I will surely increase you; but if you deny, indeed My punishment is severe.

   ReciteRecitersMishary Rashid AlafasyMaher Al MuaiqlyAbdul Basit Abdul SamadMahmoud Khalil Al-HusaryMohamed Siddiq El-MinshawiAbdurrahman As-SudaisAbu Bakr Ash-ShaatreeAli Al-HudhaifyAhmed ibn Ali Al-Ajamy

   If you want to thank Allah for wealth in practice, the clearest way is zakat. You can work it out with the zakat calculator.

   Al-Qasas: 78Ibrahim: 7

   Lessons

   • Denying your past is the first step to denying a blessing
   • The grateful remember life before the blessing without shame
   • Gratitude keeps and increases blessing; ingratitude removes it

The illustrations are our own, free of copyright restrictions, and do not depict identified religious figures.