I tend to play more of a role in the life of my community than my community plays in my life. Many of the things I do, including the job I hold, benefit my community. I enjoy being in a community but I rarely take advantage of the benefits of community. I was isolated and alone most of my life often doing things independently and although I can do things with others, I can also do things alone and not be bothered by it.

 

On this day, Wednesday, December 20, 2006, I had a dream or was it a parable.

In my dream, an old man dressed in the Arabian robes was walking down a road. He encountered another man who walked briskly along the same path with a troubled look fixed upon his face.

"Brother," the old man asked the troubled man, "Can I join you?"

The troubled man nodded yes.

The old man continued speaking.  "Soon, we shall pass the marketplace, which is very dangerous these days. Perhaps it is safer for two of us together than it is for each of us alone".

The troubled man continued to walk at a brisk pace. The old man kept up with him as best he could. Neither of them spoke. They continued this way for several minutes.

As they entered the marketplace, the old man spoke again. "Brother", he said, "I am too old and tired to keep up with you, but if you walk with me at a slower pace, you can tell me what is troubling you and I will listen."

The troubled man agreed and slowed his pace. He told the old man that he had run into a father and his teenage son the day before. They were desperate for work. He felt sorry for them and sent them to apply for work at his cousin's factory in a town 20 miles away. This morning, he heard about a tragic accident on the news. Two men were standing on a street corner in the town where his cousin's factory is. A bus, which had lost its brakes, crashed into them, killing them instantly. He saw the news footage. He recognized the corner. It was the corner across the street from his cousin's factory.  He recognized the two dead men. They were the father and son he encountered, still wearing the clothing they had worn the day before. The troubled man was beside himself with guilt. If he had not sent them to his cousin's factory, they would still be alive. He had sent those two men to their deaths as surely as he was now walking into the marketplace. He didn't know how to absolve himself of the tremendous guilt he was feeling.

The old man, who had listened patiently without saying a word, stopped and said, "I must rest ere for a moment". as he leaned against a four foot high bar table.

The troubled man stopped as well, and looked at the old man, waiting to see what he had to say.

"I don't believe you have anything to feel guilty about." He told the troubled man. "You performed an act of kindness on behalf of those men. Their deaths in the accident was the will of Allah." He continued.

"What do you know of these things?" replied the troubled man, "You are not Allah!"

"No," replied the old man, "But I am one of his prophets."

At this, the troubled man shouted, as if to the crowd of people in the marketplace "Behold, I am standing with a prophet of Allah!"

Upon hearing this, a woman standing in the market stall next to the two men, turned away from them and shouted to a man standing amidst a crowd of people, several stalls away, "Stop!!!!"

Upon hearing this, the man pushed a button under his clothing, triggering a bomb.

There was a loud explosion and a puff of smoke. The astonished people in the crowd that surrounded the man who triggered the bomb were unhurt. The man who triggered the bomb had a singed shirt and black soot upon his face.

"Nothing happened" said the troubled man to the old man.

"Nothing could happen while I am with you." The old man replied.

The police rushed in and threw the man who triggered the bomb and the woman who shouted to him down to the floor. People cam rushing towards them from all over the marketplace hoping to see what was happening. The troubled man's attention was distracted by the turn of events. When he turned to talk to the old man, the old man was nowhere in sight.

The troubled man began to walk around the marketplace franticly searching for his new friend. His movements caught the attention of the police and he was detained with other people who had witnessed the attempted bombing.

After several hours, a policeman came to question him. He policeman said that several witnesses had heard him shout "Behold, I am with a prophet of Allah!" right before the woman shouted to the man who triggered the bomb.

The troubled man told them the story of what had transpired since he encountered the old man. He concluded by telling the officer that he had shouted that to the old man, that the old man had told him nothing would happen while he was with him. The policeman asked where the old man was now. The troubled man replied that he lost track of him when the police moved in.

The policeman told the troubled man that the man who triggered the bomb was a suicide. bomber who wanted to kill himself in the marketplace.  The woman who shouted "Stop!" was his terrorist. She was supposed to tell him when to trigger the bomb. When the woman heard the him shout "Behold, I am with a prophet of Allah!," she took it as a bad omen and tried to call the plot off. The suicide bomber thought she was giving the signal to trigger the bomb.

Several witnesses heard what you said. None of them saw anyone with you at the time. They all said that you were standing by the stall talking to yourself and then you suddenly shouted "Behold, I am with a prophet of Allah!". to the crowd. The policeman told him that they don't believe he had anything to do with the attempted bombing and he was free to go.

The man left. He wondered what had happened. He wondered why the bomb never went off. Why he was protected and what ever became of the old man.  He was comforted by what the old man had said. Especially in light of what had happened. One thing was certain. He was no longer troubled.