Story: "The Righteous Neighbor" ✍🏻

A man says: I had a very poor neighbor who sold bread on the streets. He did not earn much money from this work and supported a large family, which subsisted on his earnings. By selling bread, he earned less than a quarter of a government employee's salary.

Despite this, I always saw him happy and smiling, as if he owned all the wealth in the world. I thought, how can this person be so happy, even though his financial condition is so poor? And his source of livelihood is so little.

Then I said to myself: Where is this happiness? Why do I not feel it? My financial condition is good, I have a big house, money in the bank, and everything I need, yet I do not feel this happiness.

I became frustrated and decided that I wanted to know the secret of his happiness.

The man says: I started waiting for Friday because it was a holiday. I had breakfast with my family, then I took my car and reached the place where that man was selling bread.

I started watching him from afar. He had not sold anything yet, nor had he started the day. After waiting for a long time, a little girl came, and the man put a lot of bread in a bag and gave it to her. The girl took the bread and left.

I was surprised that he was giving her such a large quantity of bread for free, while he had not even sold anything yet. I was worried about how he would earn money while distributing bread for free, even though his earnings were already very low.

But the real surprise came when, a few minutes after the girl left, a crowd of people suddenly gathered in front of him, as if there were no other bread seller there. I was watching all this and could not believe how it was all happening.

I waited until he sold all the bread. Then I went close to him and said: "MashaAllah, you sold all the bread."

He replied: "Alhamdulillah, this is the grace of Allah. Do you want to take bread?"

I said: "Yes, but now you have no more bread."

He said: "I will give you my share of bread."

I said: "No problem, I will buy it from somewhere else." Then I offered to drop him off at his home.

He told me he was waiting for someone.

I said: "Okay, we can wait together."

After a while, the same girl came again. The man put some money into her hand and told her to go home immediately.

Then we got into the car and started moving. I asked him: "What is the story of this girl?"

He replied: "She is the daughter of my friend who used to sell bread with me, but he fell ill and passed away, leaving behind a family consisting only of women. One day I saw this girl and her elder sister looking for food in a garbage pile. I asked them what they were doing, and they told me that they had been hungry for two days and were collecting leftover food from the garbage. Then I decided that I would support them according to my capacity."

The man says: "I was deeply moved and could not hold back my tears. Then I knew what the secret of his happiness was."

The story has ended, but the lessons have not ended yet.

Those who are around you in your neighborhood, your close ones, relatives, etc., who are in difficult circumstances, whether there is a debt or a large family, low income and high expenses, you gentlemen must look around you to see if someone hungry, thirsty, or stricken by circumstances is waiting for your help...