The King And The Two Slaves

Once a king purchased two slaves. One of them was very handsome while the other was very ugly.

The king asked the handsome slave to go and take a bath. While he was away, the king turned to the other (ugly) slave and said, “Your companion has given a very bad account of you, he said that you are a thief and of bad character. Is this correct?”

The slave replied that his companion was a handsome person, and his exterior beauty must be reflected by inward beauty as well. He could not believe that such a beautiful man could tell a lie. He therefore said, “If my companion has a bad opinion about me, there must certainly be something wrong with me. I am afraid he must be correct.”

The king observed that beauty was only an Allah given gift, and it did not follow that a person who had a handsome face had a pure heart as well.

The king was greatly impressed with the character and intelligence of this slave. In the meantime, the first slave had returned from his bath.

The king sent the second slave (i.e. the ugly slave to have a bath) and in his absence told the handsome slave that his fellow slave had given a bad account of him.

On hearing this, the handsome slave burst into invectives against his companion and said that he was a rascal and a liar.

The king thus came to the conclusion that the slave with a beautiful face had no inner worth, while the slave with an ugly face had much inner worth.

The moral of the story is that beauty is only skin deep. All that glitters is not gold.

The tongue reveals the inner intelligence as well as inner vileness. The safety of a man lies in holding his tongue.

'Surely Allah does not look to your bodies nor to your forms. Rather He looks to your hearts,' and he pointed to his chest.
[Muslim]