Conversation in heaven

Abd Mubarak was on his way to Mecca when one night he dreamed that he was in heaven and heard two angels having a conversation.

“How many pilgrims came to the holy city this year?” one of them asked.

“Six hundred thousand”, answered the other.

“And how many of them had their pilgrimage accepted?”

“None of them. However, in Baghdad there is a shoemaker called Ali Mufiq who did not make the pilgrimage, but did have his  pilgrimage accepted, and his graces benefited the 600,000 pilgrims”.

When he woke up, Abd Mubarak went to Mufiq’s shoe shop and told him his dream.

“At great cost and much sacrifice, I finally managed to get 350 coins together”, the shoemaker said in tears. “But then, when I was ready to go to Mecca I discovered that my neighbours were hungry, so I distributed the money among them and gave up my pilgrimage”.

The beggar and the monk

A monk was meditating in the desert when a beggar came up to him and said: “I need to eat”.

The monk – who was almost reaching the point of perfect harmony with the spiritual world – did not answer.

“I need to eat”, insisted the beggar.

“Go to the town and ask someone else. Can’t you see that you are bothering me? I am trying to communicate with the angels”.

“God placed himself lower than men, washed their feet, gave His life, and no-one recognized Him”, the beggar replied. “He who says he loves God – who does not see – and forgets his brother – who does – is lying”.

And the beggar turned into an angel.

“What a pity, you almost made it”, he remarked before leaving.

These stories were syndicated from Paulo Coelho’s “Warrior of the Light Online.”  http://warriorofthelight.com/engl/