Don’t suspect: The meaning of being in love with Allah is that your heart is fully enlightened with the magnificence of Allah and doesn’t ever suspect Him.
(Nauman Ali, Lahore)
Why does my owner become sad when he looks at me?
I was very happy in that house. I started loving the humans. I used to think how beautiful these humans are who love us (the animals) so much. I never trusted my friends who used to say that humans are terrible and they treat the animals badly. The reason that I didn’t believe them was that I was very mischievous and used to do many naughty things but my master never scolded me. He was a poor man and it was very hard for him to meet the both ends. For last few days, I had been noticing that my owner was upset and he became sad whenever he looked at me. The next morning, according to my daily routine I went to see my friends who lived at a small distance. I found that only a few of my friends were left there. I asked a senior friend that where had they gone? He told me an entirely different story. He said, “Eid Al-Adha is approaching, on this occasion Muslims sacrifice animal following Allah’s command and fulfill the sunnah of sacrifice. Including us, camels, ox and sheep are also sacrificed.” I was surprised to hear this. But gradually I realized and also understood the reason of my master’s sadness. Though he would sell me and pay off his debts but he becomes sad thinking of being departed from me. The days passed on. All my nearby friends had gone but nobody came to my owner to buy me. Perhaps I was alone and the buyers needed flocks. At last, one day my owner tied a rope in my neck just when he was taking me out of the house, I suddenly felt someone standing behind me. When I turned back, I saw both of my owner’s kids looking at me with their eyes filled with tears as if saying goodbye to me. I looked at them for the last time while bleating and went away.
What do people look for in my mouth?
Animals were brought to the cattle market from various places and it was crowded by the buyers too. My owner applied henna on my white body so that I look beautiful. I was still just taking a look around the market while two stout and strong young men came to my owner and asked about me. I could understand what they were talking about because of living with humans. Suddenly, one of them put his dirty hand on my face and opened my mouth. His hands smelled badly. Finally he left me after examining my teeth. I took a sigh of relief. But my trial was still going on. He started rubbing his hand on my neck. He was muttering something while rubbing his dirty hands on my legs and back. Finally they both went away and I thanked that they didn’t like me. Right after they left, everyone started coming to see me. I was tired of being examined by so many people. I was feeling pain in my jaw due to opening my mouth repeatedly. I don’t know what they had been looking for in my mouth. After so many hardships, the night came and there was a bit peace in the market. I was badly tired so I sat down and slept. I woke up due to extreme noise. The sun had not risen fully but the same hustle and bustle started in the market. Today the crowd was increasing continuously. An old man with two kids came to examine me. Both the kids were very naughty. One of them held my horn and the other one was pulling my leg. I was in extreme rage. I thought of hitting them with my legs but stopped myself for the sake of my owner. As usual, the old man opened my mouth with his shivering hands, looked at my teeth and then left me. I thought that people didn’t like me due to my dirty teeth. And it was true because I always cleaned my teeth properly but here in the city, my teeth had become very filthy due to drinking unclean water and eating dry grass. Perhaps they wanted to buy a goat with white teeth. Somehow this day also passed.
People flee away knowing my price:
6It was my third day in the cattle market. My owner had clear signs of anxiety on his face. Firstly, nobody liked me and if I was liked by someone he refused buying me after knowing my price. Even today I was not liked by anyone, my price made them run away. Obviously I was a healthy and strong goat brought up in the village, my owner wanted to sell me at a good price. A few days were left from Eid. It was evening time when an elderly man came towards me along with his three kids. He started staring at me and asked my owner about my price. His appearance and dressing showed that he belonged to an affluent family. Finally he decided to buy me. My owner took my price and handed over me to him. My owner was rubbing his hand on my back so I realized that now I had to go to someone else and that my owner was changed. He brought me to his car and after a short journey; we stopped at the gate of an elegant house. “The goat has come! The goat has come!” all the children in the family were shouting with joy. Everyone was looking at me with excitement. I was tied in the corner of the courtyard. The children in the house were very naughty. They didn’t let me be at peace even for a moment. One was holding my horn and the other was pulling my leg. Someone was hitting my ears and the other one was pulling my hair. For how long could I bear this? (Continued on page 52)
