A Wise Caliph Story

The Caliph Haroon ur Rashid was a wise ruler. He often dressed in the clothes of a working man and walked through the streets of Baghdad at night. He always went alone because he wanted to see himself how his people lived. If they knew he was the Caliph, they would not speak to him freely.

One day the Judge brought two men before him. One was a respectable man, the other was a beggar. They were holding between them a beautiful white horse. The judge said to the Caliph "O leader of the faithful! I have brought a dispute which I could not settle. Each of these men claims the horse to be his. I request you to decide the case."

The Caliph said. "It is not a difficult case." He ordered 
the well dressed man to say what the matter was.

The well dressed man came forward to said. " I shall speak the truth. I was riding this morning to the city. I saw the beggar limping along ahead to me. He requested me to give him a ride up to the city gate. As he was lame, I took pity on him. When we reached the city gate, I stopped the horse and turned round to help him to get down. He refused saying that it was his horse".

Then the beggar limped forward and said, "O leader of the faithful! you are the helper of the poor. Take pity on me and save me from the cruelty of this rich man. I swear on the Holy Book the Quran that horse belongs to me. This morning, I was coming to the city on my horse. I saw this man walking along the road. When I came near him, he requested me to lend him my horse for he was in great hurry to reach the city. I lent him my horse and sat behind him. As we reached the city gate, he asked me to get down and leave the horse to him".

The Caliph said. "This is a very easy case". He ordered the beggar to place his hand on the body of the horse. When the beggar touched the horse, it winced as it did not like his hand. Then the rich man touched the horse. The horse neighed with pleasure. The Caliph decided the case in favour of the rich man.

Then the Caliph said to the beggar. "You are a liar and a wicked man. You tried to rob an honest and respectable man. I forgive you this time, beg forgiveness to this man".

The rich man forgave the beggar and helped him with a hand full of gold coins. This noble action of the rich man pleased every on in the court.