التصنيف: الإنجليزية

Hospital Windows

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs. His bed was next to the room’s only window.

The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end. They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation.

And every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color of the rainbow. Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn’t hear the band – he could see it in his mind’s eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words. Days and weeks passed.

One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep. She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window. The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the world outside. Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it for himself.

He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall. The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall.

She said, "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage you."

I hope you enjoy it

Mohammed was a contemplative individual and liked to spend his free time in isolation pondering the world in a cave called Hira outside of Mecca. It was while sitting in this cave that Mohammed began his life as a prophet at the age of forty. While sitting in Hira, Mohammed was visited by an angel who taught him a verse and made him recite back the verse. He met with this angel a few more times, he recited more versus praising Allah, God, and was told by the angel to spread this message. Mohammed told Khadija his wife about these meetings and she believed that he was a messenger of Allah and was the first to believe in Islam. Mohammed’s friend Abubakr, his cousin Ali, and Mohammed’s slave Zaid also believed in what Mohammed was saying and became followers of Islam.

Mohammed grew bolder in spreading his message and spoke from the mount of Safa to the people of Mecca proclaiming that they should give up their old gods for Allah and to follow the ways of Islam. Over the next ten years Mohammed would preach whenever he could in Mecca. Mohammed’s message began to wear on the nerves of the Quarish citizens of Mecca who were polytheists and rejected Mohammed’s idea of monotheism. They began to insult and ridicule Mohammed and his message, his uncle Abu Lahab would lead these assaults and claimed that Mohammed was crazy. After the death of his uncle Abu Talib and his wife Khadija the assaults against Mohammed grew worse. He left Mecca and went to the city of Taif to spread the message of Allah. He was only in Taif for a short time before he was forced to leave for preaching about Allah and had to return to Mecca. When he returned to Mecca, he was again subject to assault and things grew worse. Although many people heard Mohammed’s message and rejected his ideas Mohammed did gain a few converts in Mecca.

Mohammed’s message upset many and the persecution of the followers of Islam was so bad that some of his followers had to leave their homes and go to Habsha seeking the protection of the Christian king Negus. More and more of Mohammed’s followers were leaving Mecca for Habsha to escape persecution. But not all who listened to Mohammed’s message ridiculed him. In 620 A.D., he was able to win converts among the tribe of Yathrib, (Madina) and converted many of the Yathrib tribe to Islam. The Yathrib had heard of Mohammed’s reputation as a man of wisdom and hoped that he could help settle disputes in Madina, between themselves, some local Jews, and other groups of people. Mohammed converted so many members of the Yathrib tribe to Islam that he was able to form an alliance pact with the Yathrib who promised him protection if he were to come to live with them in Madina.

Following his pact with the Yathrib tribe all the followers of Islam save three left Mecca for Madina. The Mohammed’s followers had left Mecca to escape the ridicule and oppression that was carried out against them by the non-believers. Only Mohammed, his cousin Ali, and Mohammed’s friend Abu Bakr stayed behind in Mecca. Mohammed and Abu Bakr would leave Mecca after finding out about a Qurish conspiracy to kill Mohamed. With most of Mohammed’s followers gone, Qurish tribal leaders who harbored resentment against Mohammed decided to assassinate him. Their plan was to murder Mohammed in his home at night but Mohammed found out about the plot and left Mecca before they could carry out their plans. Abu Bakr and Mohammed were able to escape Mecca and were able to flee to Madina and were they fell under the protection of the Yathrib tribe.

In Madina Mohammed was no longer persecuted but was respected by the people and rose to a high position of power solving disputes between the various locales. As an arbitrator Mohammed was widely respected by the people of Madina, he also began to work on his message at this time. He had in Mecca set the codes of conduct to live by, in Madina he worked on what relations between followers of Islam should be with one another and with non-believers. It was also in Madina that Mohammed made Islam more Arabian. Mohammed believed that some Jews who lived in Madina were conspiring against him with the Qurish tribe of Mecca, those who had forced him to leave his home. Mohammed also had problems with the Hypocrites, Medinese Arabs who falsely proclaimed faith in Islam and allied themselves with the Jews who opposed Mohammed. Trouble began between Mohammed, the Hypocrites and the Jews when some of Mohammed’s people attacked a caravan during a time period that was traditionally observed as being a time of peace. The Hypocrites were upset that Mohammed did not observe this traditional cease-fire and Mohammed was upset with them for being angry at his people who did the raid out of necessity for survival.

Later Mohammed plotted to attack another caravan just outside of Mecca. The Quarish tribe learned of this attack and led a large number of attackers against Mohammed’s few raiders. The battle between Mohammed’s small force and the Quarish tribe’s overwhelming force is known as the Battle of Badr. Mohammed’s victory over the Quarish was seen as further proof that Mohammed was a prophet of God. The Quarish would attack Madina a year later and would defeat Mohammed’s forces and wound Mohammed, but withdrew before sacking the city. The Quarish would attack Madina once more in the following year but this attack would fail because Mohammed had a large trench around the city dug and the attackers had to give up the attack after their supplies ran out. This battle was known as the Battle of the Trench.