The Boy Who Could Not Be Killed

The boy was left, and the king ordered a group of his soldiers to carry him and throw him from the top of a cliff. They carried the boy, and subḥānAllāh, Allah was performing karāmāt on the hand of this boy. Karāmah is a miracle that would occur to a non-prophet, and miracles happen to the prophets — that's the difference between muʿjizah and karāmah. Muʿjizah happens to a prophet, and karāmah happens to a person who's not a prophet, but they are both supernatural events. The boy made duʿāʾ to Allah and said, "Oh Allah, ikfinīhi bimā shiʾt — oh Allah, take care of them the way You want, I'm going to leave it up to You. Oh Allah, take care of them the way You want." Allah (swt) made them reach the top of the cliff, and then the cliff started to shake, and all of the soldiers fell down, except him. The boy walked back, and entered into the palace of the king: "Here I am again."

The king appointed another group of soldiers to take him — obviously, soldiers are disposable with this king — so he appointed a new group of soldiers to take him into a ship, and when they reach into the deep waters, just throw him in the water. So they were on this boat, and he made the same duʿāʾ again: "Oh Allah, take care of them the way You want to." The boat capsized, and they all drowned, except him. He went back to safety.

He went to the king, and the king was ready to appoint a third group of soldiers to take him. The boy told him, "Wait, you're not going to be able to kill me, unless you do what I tell you." The king told him, "What is it?" The boy said, "You tie me to a tree, and you gather everyone, and you bring an arrow, and you say, 'Bismillah' — bismillāhi rabbi al-ghulām, in the name of Allah, the Lord of the boy — then you will be able to kill me." So the boy told him the prescription of how to kill him. Because he told the king how it is possible to get rid of him — if he didn't, he wouldn't have survived. So he basically told the king how to kill him. But the boy did it for a noble cause.

What happened is the king followed the instructions, and publicly said, "Bismillāhi al-raḥmāni al-raḥīm" — in the name of Allah, the Lord of the boy. And the arrow hit him right in his head, and he immediately died. But the result of that action was that everyone who attended became Muslim. So he did it for daʿwah. He gave up his life so that everyone else would live, because a person is dead without Islam. The advisors of the king told him, "What you were afraid of happened. The whole purpose of killing this boy is to get rid of this religion, and here we are stuck with our whole nation becoming Muslim" — actually, in this situation, Christian, but it is Islam, it is the oneness of Allah (swt).