"Oh Allah, I almost sold Islam for twenty pence!"

Several years ago an Imaam moved to London. He often took the bus from his home to the downtown area. Some weeks after he arrived, he had occasion to ride the same bus. When he sat down, he discovered that the driver had accidentally given him twenty pence too much change. As he considered what to do, he thought to himself, 'you better give the twenty pence back. It would be wrong to keep it'. Then he thought, 'Oh forget it, it's only twenty pence. Who would worry about this little amount?

Anyway, the bus company already gets too much fare; they will never miss it. Accept it as a gift from Almighty Allah and keep quiet'. When his stop came, the Imaam paused momentarily at the door, then he handed the twenty pence back to the driver and said: "Here, you gave me too much change.

"The driver with a smile replied:"Aren't you the new Imaam in this area? I have been thinking lately about going to worship at your mosque. I just wanted to see what you would do if I gave you too much change." When the Imaam stepped off the bus, his knees became weak and soft. He had to grab the nearest light pole and held for support, and looked up to the heavens and cried: "Oh Allah, I almost sold Islam for twenty pence!"I keep on thinking of this Imaam story and asked myself. Have I ever done that before?

Have I ever sold my religion by being a bad window? Am I following Prophet's manners and advices on punctuality, on being truthful, on smiling, on good words, on patience, on my dressing, on my dealing with my friends? Oh dear, what if when I was doing all the wrong things, my 'bus driver' was watching me closely, and evaluating me as a Muslim and judging Islam thru me, his window? I hope that I do not have any 'bus drivers' watching me. What about you? Is your 'bus driver' watching? We will never know. But that is not the question. The question is what are we going to do now, knowing, maybe, just maybe, someone is watching and judging Islam thru us... —