A Sweet Tooth
by Abu Abdullah Ibne Ismail
From the teaching of Shaykh Muhammad Saleem Dhorat
(may Allah preserve him)
"A lady once brought her son to one of our pious predecessors. She said to the Shaykh that my son eats a lot of sweets. I have told him time and again that it is harmful but he does not listen to me. So I request you please to advise him.
The Shaykh replied that please bring him back to me after a few days.
When the lady returned a few days later the Shaykh gave the child some very general advice. The Shaykh's answer surprised the Shaykh's students.
Given that the Shaykh had asked the lady to return in a few days they thought the Shaykh had asked for time so that he could prepare some special guidance.
Thus the students asked the Shaykh the rationale behind his actions to which the Shaykh replied:
The reason behind my action is that when the young lad came I assessed myself and realised that I was also in the habit of eating too many sweets.
Thus I thought that until I do not practise myself my words will have no effect.
So I asked for a few days leave so that I could rectify my habit first before trying to advise the young man to rectify his habit."
source: http://shaykh.wordpress.com/
