Once two passers-by got tired of walking the path. They were also very hungry. The two of them went to a convenient place to eat and drink and sat down. Then he took out his food from Putli. One has five loaves of bread. Three of the others. When they were ready to eat, a traveler appeared. Her attire is very simple.
He said, "Brother, I am starving." I am very hungry. I have no food. You give me some food. The two passers-by asked for faces. I thought to myself, they will eat two and one traveler will not eat, what is this? They asked the traveler to sit down to eat with them.
The three sat down to eat together. Five loaves of bread for one. The other three loaves. The empty hand of the traveler. Yet they made no difference in the distribution of bread. They thought they might not have food with anyone, but the hunger was no less. Moreover, one eats more and one eats less, so how come? The three of them ate equal bread. Eating and drinking is over - now it's time to say goodbye. As the traveler left, the passer-by gave the two a reward of eight dirhams. Said, brother, I only ate yours.
I couldn't feed you anything. This is not eight dirhams. You two share. The traveler left. But the problem was with the sharing of dirhams. Whose five loaves he said, I had five loaves. So I get five dirhams. And you will get three dirhams for three loaves of bread.
But the three breadwinners did not agree to accept this calculation. He said, "No, I do not agree with you." The two of us ate the same amount. So you get four dirhams. The first one said, how is that? You will get four dirhams for three loaves of bread.And I get four dirhams for five loaves? Is it a matter of law?
An argument broke out between the two. No one agrees with anyone. They are not able to come to a solution at all. Finally one of them said, "Listen, there is no point in arguing like this." Let us go to Amirul Momenin Hazrat Ali (AS). He will judge, so we will accept. Then the two went to Hazrat Ali. They said everything openly and complained for justice. Hazrat Ali listened to them attentively.
For a moment he thought to himself. Later he said, did you eat three equally? They both shook their heads and said yes. Hazrat Ali said, then what is so much controversy about this? The calculation is as straightforward as water. Whoever has five loaves of bread will get seven dirhams. Whoever has three loaves of bread will get one dirham.
Both were surprised to hear such an account! Seven dirhams and one dirham was divided as they did not understand anything. Unable to understand the calculation, both of them looked at Hazrat Ali with a smile. Imam Ali understood their minds. He said, "There were three of you." Bread is eight. Eaten equally. If one loaf is divided into three pieces, eight loaves become twenty-four pieces. So you ate eight pieces each. The traveler paid eight dirhams for eight pieces.
Hazrat Ali said, "Let us come now, as to who will get how much." The second one had nine pieces in three loaves. He ate eight of the nine pieces himself. Only one piece fell on the part of the traveler. So he can't get anything more than one dirham. And one has fifteen loaves in five loaves. In it he ate eight pieces himself. The traveler ate the remaining seven pieces. So he will get seven dirhams.
The two travelers were astonished to hear Hazrat Ali's account. I was fascinated by the wisdom of his judgment. They silently accepted the verdict without objecting to any more excuses.
