the muddy beard.

assalamu alaikum :o)

bismillah.

last friday, about twenty minutes before the jumah khutba was to start, a thunderstorm moved in. it rained so heavily that the masjid parking lot and road leading into it filled with water. its important to note that the undeveloped plot of land adjacent to the paved parking lot is a now a makeshift parking lot. because it is nothing but dirt, whenever it rains, the whole plot quickly turns to mud. many problems stemmed from the rain. particularly people walking around the masjid with muddy shoes and parking their cars in the middle of the parking lot, blocking the sole entrance and exit. when the khateeb received word of how bad it actually got, he was visibly upset. he then narrated and old story.

during the reign of umer ibn al khattab (r), the streets of medina were still dirt roads. whenever a rain storm came, the roadways would quickly become muddy, making transportation quite difficult. following one of these rare downpours, a young tabien made his way to the masjid for prayer. during this trek, his shoes naturally became covered in mud. it was impossible for them to not be so. upon entering the masjid, he removed his shoes, and proceeded to clean the mud by wiping his shoes on the door of the masjid. ameer ul mumineen, umer ibn al khattab, just happened to be seated in the masjid, with a perfect view of what was taking place. angered and disappointed, he leaned over to a companion and said “it would be better if he took his muddy shoes and wiped them on my beard rather than desecrating the house of Allah.”

hmm.

and Allah Almighty knows best.