*The Journey of Faith (Yaqeen ka Safar)*

From behind the bars of the lockup, I was watching him pray. That handsome young man of twenty-five or twenty-six years was brought here just two days ago on a murder charge, from where he was to be transferred to jail after a few days of court proceedings... The case against him was quite strong, so the prevailing assumption was that after just one or two hearings, he would be sentenced to death...

I am a policeman, and from day one, my attitude and tone towards him had been quite harsh... but there was always a captivating smile on his lips, and considering me an elder, he always spoke respectfully and in a soft tone. And a harsh person like me surrendered to his excellent manners within just two days.

Now, after turning his face for Salam, he was supplicating (making Dua)... I just kept staring at him... He was praying with such humility and concentration that it seemed as if the One he was asking from was sitting right in front of him. After the prayer, his eyes fell on me, and that same smile appeared on his lips again... He stood up, came to me, and asked about my well-being as usual.

Today, contrary to habit, my tone was quite soft. During the conversation, I asked him if he had really committed a crime like murder... because looking at his innocence, it did not feel to me that he could commit a crime like murder.

"The murder of one human being is the murder of the entire humanity... so how can I commit such a heinous crime?" he replied with a smile.

"Then what happened?" I looked at him with questioning eyes.

"When Allah grants power or authority to someone in this world, most people forget that these powers are a trust from Allah... they begin to consider all of it as their own excellence and right. The same happened with me... An influential person of our area committed a murder, and coincidentally, I was just a few steps away from there. He put the blame on me. False witnesses were also prepared, and I ended up here."

I felt a sense of sorrow. "So, didn't your family do anything?"

"The family tried their best, but it's the same old story; in this society, out of fear, people support only the one who is powerful." He smiled again.

I was amazed to see his tranquility. "Aren't you afraid that in a few days you might be sentenced to death?"

"In Shaa Allah, nothing will happen to me... I have placed my petition before Him, in front of whom even the greatest of kings hold no status..." he replied in a confident tone.

I looked at him with questioning eyes again. "I am talking about my Allah... He knows about my innocence, and He will not let anything happen to me." Love was dripping from his every single word.

"Are you sure that the prayer will work? What if it doesn't...?" I asked.

"When you ask from Him, you don't fall into doubt about whether He will accept it or not... you just leave everything to Him and wait." There was absolute conviction in his tone... I just kept staring at his face, as prior to this, I had hardly seen such faith in Allah in anyone.

Three more days passed... During this time, his family members also came to meet him. He was the only son of his parents. The mother was in a miserable state from constant crying, but there was no reduction in his peace of mind. He kept explaining to her, "I have placed my petition before Allah, He knows I am innocent, you will see, He will not let anything happen to me."

Before this, I had only read about such faith in Allah, but had never witnessed it. Feelings of devotion had now started arising in my heart for him. Perhaps the love of Allah is indeed such that it melts even a stone-hearted person.

And then, just a day before he was to be presented in court, a strange incident occurred. The man who had committed the murder himself and blamed it on him was going somewhere in a car with his wife and only child when he met with a horrific accident. As a result, his wife and child died on the spot, while he was shifted to the hospital in a critically injured condition... After gaining consciousness several hours later, when he received the news of his wife and child's death, his condition worsened even more...

In that very state of agony of death, he remembered something... He screamed and asked the nearby doctor to make a video of him... Upon his repeated insistence, when the doctor signaled the nurse to make a video, he confessed to his crime with great difficulty in the video, declared that youth innocent, and begged for forgiveness with folded hands...