What you sow, so you reap

“What you sow, so you reap” is a popular saying. It is a law of nature that for every action in this world, there is always a reaction. The Holy Qur’an has also guided us on this subject. It says:

If you do good, you do good to yourselves. (Likewise) if you do evil, you do evil to yourselves.

One of the companions of the Holy Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.) was very fond of this verse of the Qur’an and used to recite it loudly and repeatedly wherever he went. A Jewish woman who had heard him once wanted to prove him wrong and thus make him disrespectful among his people.

She thought of a plan and prepared some sweets mixed with poison and sent them to him as a present. The man received the poisoned sweets and went out of the city with them. On the way, he met two men who were returning home from a long journey. They were very tired and hungry so he tried to help them. He offered them the sweets. Of course, he was not aware that they were secretly mixed with poison.

No sooner had the two travelers taken the sweets, they collapsed and died. When the news of their death reached Medina, the city where the Prophet resided, the man was arrested. He was brought in front of the Prophet and he related what had actually happened. The Jewish woman who had mixed poison with the sweets was also brought to the court of the Prophet.

She was stunned to see the two dead bodies of the travelers there. They in fact turned out to be her own two sons who had gone away on a journey. She admitted of her evil intention before the Prophet and all the people present. Alas, the poison she had mixed in the sweets to kill the companion of the Prophet had instead killed her own two sons.

Lessons from The Story: What an example of a tragic reaction to a bad action. It shows how one reaps what he sows.If we do good, we stand to gain a good reward. If we do bad, we should expect a bad outcome ultimately.

“Do as you would be done by” are the golden words of wisdom from the olden days. They teach us to do good to others in the same way as we like others to do good to us.