The African King & His Friend
A story is told about a king in Africa who had a close friend that grew he grew up with. The friend had a habit of looking at every situation that ever occurred in his life (positive or negative) by remarking,… “This is good, Almighty knows best”
One day the king and his friend were out on a hunting expedition. The friend would load and prepare the guns for the king. The friend had apparently done something wrong in preparing one of the guns, for after taking one of the guns from his friend, the king fired it and his thumb was blown off.
Examining the situation the friend remarked as usual, “This is good! Almighty knows best”
To which the king replied, “No, this is not good”” and ordered his soldiers to put his friend in jail.
About a year later, the king was hunting in an area that he should have known to stay clear of. Cannibals captured the king and took him to their village. They tied his hands, stacked some wood, set up a stake and bound him to the stake.
As they came near to the set fire to the wood, they noticed that the king was missing a thumb. Being superstitious, they never ate anyone who was less than whole. So after untying the kind, they chased him out of the village.
When the king reached his palace, he was reminded of the event that had taken his thumb and felt remorse for his treatment of his friend. He went immediately to the jail to speak with his friend.
“You were right” the king said, “It was good that my thumb was blown off.” And he proceeded to tell his friend all that just happened. “I am very sorry for sending you in jail for so long. It was bad for me to do this.”
“No,” his friend replied, “This is good … Almighty Knows Best”
“What do you mean, ‘this is good’! How could it be good that I sent my friend to jail for a year?”
The king’s friend replied: “Remember that the Almighty Knows best and if I had NOT been in jail, I would have been with you (on this hunting trip).”
IT COULD BE THAT YOU DISLIKE SOMETHING, WHEN IT IS GOOD FOR YOU; AND IT COULD BE THAT YOU LIKE SOMETHING WHEN IT IS BAD FOR YOU. ALLAH KNOWS AND YOU DO NOT KNOW [2:216]
