The Thrill of Discovering
Buried Treasure

Ali appeared to have lost his mind. His wife, children, neighbours, and relatives could not fathom the reason for his strange doings.

He had always been a hard-working father, trying to provide for his family and save what he could of his meagre earnings. He treasured what few possessions he had. When he was able to buy his wife some fancy new clothes, his face would glow like a light shining in an alabaster bowl while he watched her display them. His smile was like a sunrise as he watched his children enjoy some new toy or a special sweet he was able to buy for them.

But what has come into him now? Is he demented?

First, he has sold his faithful donkey, on which he depends for his daily livelihood, and his cart as well. Next, he has gathered up all his own clothes and rushed them to the dealer in second-hand goods, disposing of the lot! Then while his astonished wife weeps and raves, he sweeps all her precious dresses into a bundle and trudges off to get the best possible price for them at the market.

Almost hysterical, she tries to warn the children to hide their things as she sees Ali returning with that mysterious look in his clever eyes. She is too late, for he grabs their things, and rushes off to sell them, too. The cow, the goats, the sheep—what few animals they have he drives off to the market. His relatives come with a perplexed look on their faces. Never have they known Ali to act in such a strange way. His poor wife wrings her hands in desperation, while all the neighbours can do is to shake their heads in wonder.

Ali returns with a furniture dealer who enters the house and appraises the value of the beds, the chairs, the table, even the empty cupboards. They agree on a price, and in a few minutes the humble cottage is emptied of everything. Not a saleable item remains among Ali’s and his family’s possessions!

The only smiling face visible anywhere among the family and relatives is Ali’s. With a happy glint in his eye he counts the cash he has realized from these sudden, frenzied sales, and with a barely audible mutter of “I’ll be back,” he dashes off to see the rich landlord.

“What has got into him?” his brother asks Ali’s wife.

“I can’t imagine,” she replies.

“When did this strange behaviour begin?” asks a neighbor.

“Well,” she muses, “it began last night when he came home from ploughing in the rented field where he is trying to make a garden. He was different. I have never seen him act this way before— he hardly spoke; he hardly tasted the delicious supper I had prepared; and he barely noticed the children. And once I awoke during the night to hear him muttering in his sleep: ‘The box! The box! The treasure! I caught it with my plough!’ I don’t know what he meant, though. He seemed delirious, so I shook him to get him out of his dream.

“He groaned, then turned over and went back to sleep. Soon he was talking in his sleep again, and this time I heard him say: ‘I must buy the field! Even if it takes every coin I have!’ I just don’t know what to make of it all.”

While the perplexed family and neighbours were still whispering among themselves outside the empty home, Ali came striding down the street with a look of triumph on his face, as though he had conquered an empire. He was waving a sheet of paper in his hands. “Look,” he cried, “the title-deed! It’s ours!” He swept his wife up in his arms and then, delirious with joy, he caught and hugged each of his bewildered children.

“My dear wife and children,” he announced, “you think I’ve gone berserk, but I haven’t. I am quite aware of what I have done. Don’t cry for your ragged clothes I have sold, or for your cracked dishes and beat-up pots and sufurias I have hauled off to the market, dear wife and children. Don’t mourn for the loss of the donkey and cart by which I earned our pitiful little income, or for the patched-up furniture that is gone. As of this moment, we are wealthy beyond our wildest dreams. … I have bought the field!”

“What field? What do you mean?” demanded his still perplexed wife.

Then Ali gathered the little group around him to tell the story. Yesterday he had been ploughing in the hot sunshine, his weary body bathed with sweat. “Must I always toil like this,” he asked himself, “and earn so little?” Then as his faithful ox pulled on the plough, he felt it strike something solid buried in the ground. It wasn’t a stone; you can feel the difference between the plough striking buried wood or stone. It was wood. A wooden box!

Why should there be a box buried in the landlord’s field? Ali didn’t know, but as a child he had heard tales told of lucky people who had discovered buried boxes of treasure in various parts of the Middle East. Some worried rich man of ancient times would bury his gold, silver, and jewels when he heard of enemy armies marching to conquer the land. He would plan to return after the war was over and recover his wealth, for only he would know where it was hidden. But if the rich man should be lost in the war, his box would remain where he hid it.

Ali looked this way and that to be sure no one was watching, and then getting down on his hands and knees he scraped the earth away until the old treasure chest lay exposed. Carefully he opened the rotting lid, and stared in astonishment at the treasure of gold, silver, and precious stones glinting in the afternoon sunlight.

What to do? The only legal way to possess this fabulous wealth would be to own the land in which it was buried. After he had replaced the cover and carefully packed the earth over his discovery, he resumed ploughing, his mind racing in a search for some way to buy the field. The landlord had once offered to sell it to him, but Ali realized that the price demanded would take everything he possessed.

He didn’t dare tell anyone of his find, not even his wife. Hence his strange behaviour when the sun rose next morning.

This true story has thrilled untold millions of people for nearly 2,000 years. It illustrates the value of true religion. The treasure hidden in the field represents a living faith in the one true Allah, without which the wealthiest person on earth is no better than a pauper. The sale of all Ali’s possessions represents the sacrifice that you and I must make if we would have this precious treasure. Ali’s delirious joy at possessing the field represents the happiness that forever fills our hearts as we gain these true riches.

The astonishment of Ali’s family and friends represents the wonderment of our family and friends at the change that faith produces in us!

This oft-repeated tale told by Jesus (Issa, son of Mary) brings good news to every human being on earth. Your plough has already unearthed a treasure worth more than any prince’s gold. And you can buy the field where the treasure is. Every man and woman is the lucky Ali. All he or she needs is an appreciation of the treasure—a realization of its value. Nothing that Ali did was worthy of merit in itself; he simply knew a good thing when he saw it!

This book in your hands could be more valuable to you than actually finding a box of gold in your backyard some midnight. It can give you a faith to live by. King Solomon, son of the Prophet David (Daud), who was known for his great wisdom, for a time lost his faith in God. Of this time he said:

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?¹

Fortunately, King Solomon recovered his faith in Allah. But his despair is the cup from which most people drink today.

This book is about buried treasure. It is not that Allah has hidden his “wealth,” hoping we won’t find it. On the contrary, it is he who is guiding the plough of our lives to strike the treasure box itself. He wants us to possess it.

God sent a message through an ancient prophet, Jeremiah the son of Hilkiah. These beautiful verses describe how a believer feels about this priceless spiritual treasure:

Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom

Or the strong man boast of his strength

Or the rich man boast of his riches,

But let him who boasts boast about this:

That he understands and knows me,

That I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,

Justice and righteousness on earth.²

Chapter 2: Our Topsy-Turvy World Needs True Religion

Index: In Search of the Treasure of Faith

References:

Ecclesiastes 1:2, 3, NIV.
Jeremiah 9:23, 24, NIV.

The Thrill of Discovering Buried Treasure

The Thrill of Discovering
Buried Treasure