Shaikh Abur Rabee’ (Rahmatullahi Alayh) relates: I had often heard of a very pious lady named Fiddhah who lived in a village. I do not visit ladies, but when I heard many miraculous stories about her, I thought of going to her village and paying her a visit. People told me that she had a she goat that yielded both milk and honey. I was amazed to hear this, so I bought myself a new bowl and went to her house. I said to her: “I heard about your she goat that gives both milk and honey and I wish to have a share of its benefits.” She gave the she goat over to me and I milked it. I saw milk and honey coming out of its teats. We drank the milk and consumed the honey. When I asked her how she had come to possess that she goat, she narrated to me an amazing story.
She said: “There was a time when we were very poor and we possessed nothing except a she goat, whose milk was our only source of subsistence. When Eidul Adha came, my husband said to me: “We own nothing except this she goat, let us sacrifice it in the name of Allah.” I replied: “We have nothing but its milk to live on. Allah Ta’ala has not made it incumbent upon us to sacrifice an animal in such circumstances. Must we sacrifice it even then?” My husband gave in to my desire and we postponed our sacrifice till the next Eidul Adha. As chance would have it, we had a guest on that very day and I said to my husband: “We have been commanded to entertain our guests and we have nothing but this she goat. Let us slaughter it and cook the meat for our guest.” When my husband prepared to slaughter it I said to him: “It would be better if you slaughter it outside the house, behind the wall, lest our children cry on seeing it slaughtered.” He went outside with the goat and as soon as he was gone, I saw this she goat standing on the wall. As it bore a striking resemblance with our she goat, I thought it was our very goat which had broken loose from my husband’s grip. When I went outside, to my astonishment I saw that he had already slaughtered our goat and had begun skinning it. I said to him: “How strange! Another she goat resembling our own has come into our home!” When I told him the whole story he said: “It is likely that Allah Ta’ala has granted us a good recompense for sacrificing our she goat on account of our guest.” So this is the she goat which yields both milk and honey and it is all due to our entertaining our guest. This lady then advised her children: “My children, this goat feeds on what grows in the heart. As long as your hearts continue to be noble and un-tarnished by evil, its milk will be good. But, as soon as your hearts become corrupted, its milk will also turn bad. Guard your hearts against evil, everything will be of benefit to you.” (Fazaaile Sadaqaat, pg. 695)Lesson: A clean heart attracts Allah Ta’ala’s special mercy and attention and makes a person beloved in the sight of Allah Ta’ala, as well as the people.
