In any case, I'd like to share a story attributed to Sayyidina 'Ali Ibn Abi Talib, the fourth caliph of the Khulafa' al-Rashidin. It was said that there was an old man who died and left a strange will which was impossible to be carried out.
He had three sons and he also had 17 camels. In his will, he wanted his eldest son to get 1/2 of the camels, his middle son to get 1/3 of the camels, while his youngest son to get 1/9 of the camels.Everyone was astounded. How could it be possible to divide the camels in such a way? As such, the matter was brought to Sayyidina 'Ali to be decided upon. The caliph gave it some thought, and decided that in order to make things simple, he was willing to give one of his camels, so that the total would now be 18.
And so, the will was thus able to be carried out. The first son got 1/2 of 18, which was 9 camels. The second son got 1/3 of 18, which was 6 camels. The third son got 1/9 of 18, which was 2 camels.
When the camels were distributed accordingly among the sons, there was one camel left (because 9+6+2 = 17). Since the problem had been solved, Sayyidina 'Ali took back his camel.
Fascinating, isn't it?
P.S. For another such story which was blogged many many moons ago, here's the link.
No comments:
Post a Comment