Allahabad: I have got an fb post from one Parashuram Mishra, who in turn received it from one A. Kumar dated July 5. The post in Hindi goes something like this;
On July 4, at 11 PM one Mohammed Shariq got a bag full of money at Nazareth Hospital in Allahabad. There was no one there to claim the bag. How the bag was lying on the road remains a mystery. Mohammed Shariq picked up the bag and came home. At home he counted the money and found it to be Rs Three lakh and Sixty thousand.
Next day Mohammed Shariq took the bag in a cover to the Nazareth Hospital in search of the owner of the bag. He searched all day for the real owner asking many people but some showed ignorance and some greed.
Mohammed Shariq had hid the real bag in another cloth bag and those who showed any interest, he used to ask them the question to describe the bag and the exact amount that was in it. In this way he used to find out the greedy folks.
He did this searching exercise till 4 PM and thought of giving the bag to the police station. It was then he found one Ravi Shankar who gave the correct description of the bag and the exact amount in the bag.
Ravi Shankar told Mohammed Shariq that he got the money selling his land and had come to the hospital for the treatment of his son Ramu Shankar who was suffering from cancer.
Ravi Shankar offered Mohammed Shariq Fifty thousand rupees for returning his bag. But Mohammed Shariq refused to take the money saying, if his son becomes alright from this money, Allah will reward him for his act of piety.
Hearing these words the old father Ravi Shankar started crying. He fell on the feet of Mohammed Shariq and praised him for his honesty.
Well at the time in India when Muslims are rebuked and abused for being Muslims, lynched and shamed as Corona Jihadis, such stories are eye opener for interfaith relations in India. It is hoped and prayed that such ugly time quickly gets past all of us and the faith and strength in unity in diversity gets restored soon.
Syed Ali Mujtaba is a journalist based in Chennai. He can be contacted at syedalimujtaba2007@gmail.com
