The Teacher had given a discourse on creative thinking. Afterwards his disciples approached him and asked him to set them a problem that required them to think creatively.
The teacher gave them a sieve and asked them to fill it with water at the sea nearby. They were gone for a long time. Finally he went down to the beach to see what they were doing, and found them seated morosely around the sieve.They scrambled to their feet when they saw him.
‘You’ve set us an impossible task, sir,’ said the oldest disciple. ‘It’s just not possible to fill a sieve with water.’ ‘Are you sure?’ asked the teacher, picking up the sieve. ‘Sometimes it helps to step back and view the problem from a different angle.’ He waded into the water and threw the sieve far out into the sea. It sank.’There!’ said the teacher. ‘It’s full of water now.’
Sometimes we think that Islam’s laws are too hard to follow. But this is because we are looking at them from the wrong angle. Work on increasing your faith in the truth and wisdom of all Allah’s commands and then His laws will be easy to carry out.
The first Muslims worked on first building their faith and complete confidence in everything that Allah and His Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said and commanded. Then, when the laws came, they followed without question and with great enthusiasm.
The Sieve: Story
