Islamic Thinking

In 1934, a bronze statue of a dog called Hachiko was erected at the Shibuya Train station in Tokyo, Japan. The story of this dog is mentioned below.

Hachiko was born in 1923 and was owned by Eisaburo Ueno, a professor in the agriculture department at the University of Tokyo. The professor used to take a train from the Shibuya Station every day to go to the university. Each day Hachiko accompanied the professor to the train station when he left for work. Upon returning, the professor would find the dog patiently waiting for his master and wagging its tail.

This happy routine continued until one fateful day in 1925, when the professor was taken ill on the job and unfortunately died before he could return home. As usual, the dog waited at the train station that day for his master to return back. However, seeing that he wasn’t coming back, Hachiko waited till night fell and retuned back home.

The next day Hachiko went back to the train station again, waiting for his master to come back. He patiently waited till sunset and then retuned back home. The dog was so devoted to the professor that he continued to visit the train station everyday and wait like this for the next 10 years!

The people who passed the loyal dog each day were so touched by his story that they erected a statue in his honor in 1934.

In 1935, Hachiko died at the very same spot where he used to wait for his master.

Family, when I read this story I was moved by it. We should take a lesson from this story for ourselves. By reciting the kalimah of Tawheed, all of us have taken an oath to be loyal to Allah SWT and to follow in the footsteps of our blessed Prophet Muhammad SAW.

Now, we should look deep into ourselves and check to see how much love we really have for Allah and His Rasool in our hearts. May Allah SWT keep our imaan strong and unwavering. May Allah SWT be happy with all of us. Ameen.