The little boy taught me the uses and benefit of the hard keratin at fingers’ end when he asked, ‘What are nails for?’ – for ignorance of gratitude for them had hitherto dominated – perhaps Horus or Oedipus used them to gouge out their eyes; and Sh. M. i. al-Habib the centrality of the heart in ordering the function of the limbs and organs, as did He ta’ala its supersensory task when He says of many of the jinn and mankind, ‘They have hearts which they do not reflect with’.
She, a vitriolic kafira, taught me the wisdom of the deen in affirming that He has created everything in unequal pairs, each of the twosome complementing the other: ‘[Women] are clothing for you and you for them’.
He, the academic, the author of the King Olaf drama, taught me to polish my shoes, a military touch.
Er, auf dem roten Weg, der das 'Asr salat machte, stehend ohne Ruku',und wahrscheinlich auch ohne Wudu, in einem zentralen Londonen Parklein, lehrte mich die Nahtlosigkeit des Seins zwei Minuten vor Maghrib. It, the one time 'Meadows', now a one hundred and twenty by eighty kilometer zone of concrete and cars, sometimes racing, sometimes jammed, but always roaring, blaring or a din, taught me the meaning of His words, taala, 'Fa-ayna tadhhaboun?'. Quite unlike the as yet tranquillity of the Rawda of the Rasoul, peace and blessings be upon him. But for how long?: as the slave of the Powerful One has pointed out, tourism is the quickest method to teach a people kufr; the main concern of the app, tawakalnaa, is that you have been twice jabbed, not whether you are among the submitted. The inviolability of the two harams is as always in His hands: said ‘Abdul-Muttalib to Abraha: 'I am owner of the camels, my purpose in visiting you is to get my property back. Regarding the Ka‘ba, it has its Master, He ta'ala will take care of it Himself. I need not to worry about it.' He of the endless past-history reruns of anxieties taught me it takes all sorts to make a world; how different from he who explained that all fears are ultimately seated in the thought of death. The regulated assigning of half-hour fixed time-slots to renew an inländer passport at the Ordnungsamt taught me why the thirty or so strong queue of men, women and children were standing for an hour or two in the rain outside the Ausländeramt; however, resentment was not the issue for the rain was gentle and the social mood genial. He of the 'Journey to the King' taught me that if he's comfily fit, then all is well for others, not unlike 'un seul etre ne vous manque et tout va bien'. The plump akhund with the okhra fingers taught him to rinse the tap before turning it on. He taught the wench from Swanage how to pack her bag, and so by extension the tricks of the whole packaging industry.
And Allah ta’ala sent the crow to teach Qabil how to bury his brother.