As I looked outside, I saw some sparrows hopping about on the roof. We also have sparrows in Cyprus, and I wondered what the living conditions were like for sparrows here in London. So I asked the sparrow, “Are you in any difficulties living here in London? If so, I may ask the sparrows in Cyprus to send you some aid.” It replied, “Thank you, but we are all satisfied and we are not in need of any assistance at all. It doesn’t matter to us that we are living in such an expensive country – even in Moscow our kind are alright. We are happy and free, never caught up in any crisis. Our salaries are sufficient and always paid on time, and it is all the same to us whether we live in Hampstead or Brixton, East End or Buckingham Palace: we receive our sustenance and glorify our Lord, saying, ‘Allah, Allah’. If you can be more like us you may be happy – no suffering, no hospitals, no prisons, no passports – we are travelling freely from country to country, and we require no expensive insurance policies, our Lord is our Guarantor. Oh Son of Adam, you must be more like us, then you will be happy, and have no need to fight and quarrel.” Then he flew away.

Look, those sparrows are pleased with their Lord, and Allah is pleased with those who are pleased with Him. Therefore, you must seek ways to make Allah pleased with you. We walk this Earth with a heavy burden of ego, and of course it is impossible for us to be so light, to flutter and twitter without a care in the world like sparrows, but we can emulate their ways in the trust of God. He Almighty is the Only One who can guarantee your future: you cannot determine what will happen to you, and you cannot know what accidents or misfortunes may befall you, your spouse, your children, nation, or business. Don’t put your trust in your job, your power, your knowledge or your beauty, for it may be that none of this will avail you when you are the most vulnerable.

~ Mawlana Shaykh Nazim Adil Al Haqqani

Source: In The Mystic Footsteps of Saints, Volume 1, pages 41-2.