One night Haroon Al-Rashid, the Commander of the Faithful felt restless, turning sides and could not sleep, when he called Masrur to help him get a sound sleep. Masrur suggested many things such as taking a stroll into his palace-garden, or meet with his concubines residing in his palace itself, or summon the doctors of […]
Before dying, King Subala told Shakuni to make use of his thigh bone and create a powerful magic dice which spins the requested number. He wanted the dice to be the reason for the downfall of Dhritrashtra and the Kauravas. Shakuni did as he was told and created a dice that contained the ashes of
Al-Maamun has been the most accomplished, knowledgeable Caliph in the house of Abbas. One day while presiding over the conference of the lawyers and the theologians, he noticed a stranger wearing ragged white clothes and sitting behind the law doctors. During the debate, the stranger made a goodlier response than the rest, and the Caliph
Every day, Dhritrashtra gave only a handful of rice to each of the imprisoned Gandhara family. As the days passed, they started dying of hunger one by one. One day, King Subala said to his sons, “This is not how the Gandhara family is going to end. Every one of us will sacrifice our share
Yahya bin Khalid nurtured grudges against Abdullah bin Lalik for good reasons. Once, Haroon Al-Rashid made Abdullah ruler of Armenia. A noble man of Irak, who had lost everything, went to Abdullah with a forged letter of Yahya. Abdullah suspected the letter to be forged and told the man that after sending the letter to
Haroon Al-Rashid once sent his slave Salih to Mansur to collect a thousand thousand dirhams which he owed, failing which Mansur was to be beheaded. Salih did as he was ordered and accosted Mansur. Mansur initially lamented that all his assets will not fetch more than a hundred thousand dirhams. First Mansur went to his
Dhritrashtra was made the king of Hastinapur when Pandu went into exile with his wives. King Dhritrashtra and Queen Gandhari had a hundred sons. Duryodhan was the eldest of them. They were known as the Kauravas. Yudhishthir and his four brothers were made the rulers of Indraprastha under the sovereignty of King Dhritrashtra after Pandu’s
Jaafar, the Barmecide, was crucified by Haroon Al-Rashid. An order was passed that whoever cried for the dead man would also be crucified. An Arab called Bassorah used to bring poems in praise of Jaafar and was rewarded with a 1,000 dinars by Jaafar every year. When he saw the hanging body of Jaafar, he
A thief repented before the Almighty for his deeds, and opened a trading shop. One night when he had locked his store and went home, an artful thief who had disguised himself as a merchant pulled out keys from his pocket. He deceived the watchman and opened the shop and lit another candle he had
Once upon a time Jaafar, the Barmecide and Haroon Al-Rashid were on a drinking binge. Al-Rashid being tipsy asked for the slave girl possessed by Jaafar either by sale or gift which was refused. Then Al-Rashid said he must have the girl who was triply divorced. Jaafar also mentioned about triply divorced but would neither
Lord Krishna is well known for His epic association with the Pandavas. They were five brothers born to King Pandu of Hastinapur and his two queens, Kunti and Madri. Yudhishthir, Bheem and Arjun were Kunti’s sons. Nakul and Sahadev were Madri’s sons. Krishna’s father, Vasudev, was Kunti’s brother. So, the Pandavas were His first cousins.
One day the Caliph Haroon Al-Rashid was in a pensive mood and Ali, the Persian was called to cheer him up with his stories and anecdotes. Ali asked if he would like a story heard by him or seen by him. The Caliph ordered for any story that was worth telling. Ali began, “Once when
During the pilgrimage to Mecca a man cried out aloud, begging the Allah to make a certain woman estranged with her husband so that he might meet her. The enraged crowd brought him to the Emir who ordered him beheaded. The man pleaded to be heard and narrated that when he was walking one day,
Krishna and Sudama were childhood friends. While Lord Krishna ruled Dwarka, Sudama led a life of poverty. One day, his wife could not bear to see their children hungry and said, “Can’t you ask Lord Krishna for help?” Sudama agreed but decided that he would not ask Krishna for anything. Then, Sudama’s wife borrowed some
Once Abdullah bin Abi Kilabah went towards the deserts of Al-Yaman in the search of his lost she-camel when he came across a city of palaces and buildings but with no people. The palaces were full of precious stones, pearls and gold that Abdullah carried some home. The Caliph of Al-Hajjaj also came to know