Speculation

Looking back at those people mentioned earlier that responded negatively to getting me something to eat, I can not help thinking that, maybe Allah is using me to test them.

Just like in July of 2016. It was Monday, I had some BS bureaucratic obligations to attend to in lower Manhattan. After buying one way subway ticket ride, all I had left was $16. It was to buy food for my cats, since I wasn't going to drive a taxi until Thursday. Paying $2.75 for the subway home was out of the question, so I had to walk back home.

I was hungry and tired, but still, I had to walk almost 3 hrs to Queens where I used to live. My first thought was to ask one of those many food cart vendors to give me a plate of rice and chicken ($6/$7.) and I would pay him back Thursday (needless to say, with a generous tip).

My ego/pride kicked in, and I said to myself "no way, I am not asking anyone for anything, I have my pride". That's when I remembered that Allah does not like the proud one, but likes the humble one, and in Islam, when one is in need, one ought to ask. Pride is not for those aiming to get closer to Allah. As a matter of fact, Satan's sin was pride, that caused him to refuse bowing to Adam when Allah asked him to.

So, I ask the 1st one : NO. 2nd one : NO. 3rd one : NO....From Bway and Canal St, to Williamsburg bridge, I must have asked 10 food cart vendors : ALL refused.

Not only they all refused, but on top of that, they were all "muslims". I didn't tell any of them that I was muslim myself, because if they had a correct understanding of Islam, they wouldn't refuse food to a fellow human (one who also promised to pay back in a few days). One of them even said some disparaging comments on my tatoo, in some ugly arabic dialect that I didn't fully understand.

I can understand that some people do not like muslims, due to their negative experiences with them. I, myself, do not like most of them, starting a while ago (may Allah forgive me).

VERY Important : Referring to them as "muslims" is very inaccurate. They are first and foremost confused, dysfunctional and spiritually-deficient people in survival mode. While being all that, they insist on showing off a thin layer of Islam for all to see, as an attempt to hide the ugliness inside them. They are one of those in NYC who are as ugly as their bureaucratic oppressors.

Anyway, I was happy to have put my pride on the side for the sake of Allah and to have asked them. I thought later that maybe Allah was using me to test them. Just like the folks here, at the bus stop.

What all those kind of people fail to realize, is that ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING belongs to Allah, and that this life with its ups and downs, its moments of abundance and its moments of scarcity, it is all a test. A test indeed, for the one going through the abundance or the scarcity, as well as for the one witnessing it and coming in close proximity to it.

And Allah knows best of course.