This is a story of a student of Khwaja Mu’in al-Din Chisti, from Ajmer.
One upon a time, there lived a poor man, with his family. He was a truly hardworking fellow, gave his best to make their both ends meet. One day, he was left with nothing to eat. He was with petty food a day before, but then he was left to starve. His parents and his wife accepted the notion, and were satisfied. He thanked Allah for he was with food, till that day. But, the cries of his children made him, leave the house, and left to find something. He was walking blandly on the streets, that suddenly he saw a magnificent fakir, following him. He asked in a humble voice about the destination to the man. He replied that he was merely wandering blankly, as his family was starving. The fakir gave him a fishing net and asked him to catch a fish, which would be sufficient to fill the stomachs of his children. The man rejoiced and left thanking Allah for his grace. He reached the shore and spread the fishing net. Soon, he found a fish, though it was a small one. He left, thanking Allah. In his way back home, he saw an old lady with her grand children, crying deeply due to hunger. The man felt like giving the fish to her, and he did the same. The three rejoiced and the lady blessed him deeply. The children wiped their faces, and thanked Allah for the grace. The man smiled and left. At home, he sat outside, as he was left with no courage to face his family, without any assets.
Next morning, he woke up early and prayed to Allah, wishing for a bigger fish. And, he found a big fish. He rejoiced and thanked Allah. He returned and fed his entire family and even the entire hamlet. The people rejoiced. Soon, his fishing business bloomed. The size of the fish and his economy grew at an extravagant pace. Soon, he was an owner of a fishing industry. Despite all his achievements, he always remembered the fakir, and used to give a proportion of his earnings to the needy. He began with a charity of hundred and grew beyond millions.
One day, he was lying on his bed. Suddenly, someone woke him up. He fluttered his eyes and saw that he was the same fakir, his majestic acquaintance. The acquaintance said that he was Khwaja Mu’in al-Din Chishti from Ajmer (a city in India) and he suggested himself as the provider of the fishing net to that man. He woke up. Fakir Ji continued and said that since the virtues of the man were commendable, he was asked by Allah to consider his sins and good deeds on a divine weighing scale, before that man. Fakir Ji even said that that was the last time of the man, death had approached him. The man accepted the notion and waited for the analysis. The analysis began from that day of his death till his past deeds. His charities of millions appeared as gentle and light as the cotton balls. Soon, his sins were more than his virtues. Soon, the day when he met the Fakir Ji arrived. The tears of the lady equilibrated the scales. The smile of the two children brought the pan of virtues below that of the sins. Thus, he was declared to be free. Fakir Ji said that his time of departure had arrived and he turned to leave his house. The man prostrated at Fakir Ji’s feet, and asked for the reason about the faether like response of his grand charity, and the petty charity of a fish manipulated the scales upside down.
Fakir Ji smiled and said that the man gave his everything, when he gave the fish. Though it was a petty act, but at the end, he was left with nothing, to feed his own family. But, as he grew in his financial wings, he gave only a proportion of the vastness he earned, though it was a big amount, but it was nothing before the Totality.
Thus, it is said that percentage matters, not the amount.