18/06/2026
Powerful lesson on divine mercy and human arrogance.
The Story: Two Times the Angel of Death Felt Pity
According to the fable, Allah once asked the Angel of Death (Malak al-Mawt) if he had ever felt pity or sadness while taking a human soul. The Angel replied that in all his thousands of years of service, he only felt true pity for two people:
1. The Baby in the Wilderness: The Angel recalled a time when Allah commanded him to destroy a group of people (or a ship at sea). A lone pregnant woman survived on a small piece of wood, gave birth to a baby boy, and then died. The Angel felt immense pity as he had to take the mother's soul, leaving a helpless, newborn baby completely alone in the world with no one to care for him.
2. The Tyrant and His Fake Paradise: The Angel recalled a second person centuries later—a powerful, wealthy tyrant king named Shaddad. Shaddad spent his entire life, wealth, and army building a massive, magnificent garden city intended to rival Allah’s Paradise (Jannah). Just as the city was finished, Shaddad rode up to it, put one foot out of his stirrup, and was about to step into his paradise when Allah ordered his soul to be taken. He died instantly without ever getting to see inside his creation.
The Divine Revelation
After the Angel of Death explained these two events, Allah revealed a startling truth to him:
“O Angel of Death! You felt sorry for the same person twice! You are not aware that Shaddad was that very same baby whose mother's soul you took all those years ago. Through My infinite mercy, I protected that helpless infant, fed him, raised him, and granted him kingdom and wealth. Yet when he grew up, he used My blessings to turn against Me and claim he was a god."
The Moral Lesson of the Story
Islamic scholars use this narrative to highlight how completely dependent human beings are on Allah's grace. It illustrates that even the most arrogant tyrants—who ultimately defy God—started out as fragile infants kept alive entirely by His mercy.
Ref. Google et.al
