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Divine Mercy

“Tonight Bishr will be your guest.”

This conviction entered Bishr’s sister’s mind. She swept and watered her house, and waited expectantly for Bishr to arrive. Suddenly Bishr came like one distraught.

“Sister, I am going up to the roof,” he announced.

He planted his foot on the stairs and climbed several steps, then remained standing like that till the next day. When dawn broke, he descended. He went off to pray in the mosque.

“What was the reason you stood all night?” asked his sister when he returned.

“The thought entered my mind,” Bishr replied, “that in Baghdad there are so many people whose names are Bishr – one a Jew, one a Christian, one a Magian. My name too is Bishr, and I have attained the great felicity of being a Muslim. What, I asked myself, did the others do to be excluded, and what did I do to attain such felicity? Bewildered by this thought, I remained rooted to the spot.”

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