In the small, beautiful village with its wholesome air and flowing river, with its sweet waters and fish playing here and there under the waters, the old fisherman would go out every day with one of his daughters. They worked together, where he would fish and leave to his daughter who accompanied him the task of placing the fish in the vessel they collected inside.
The father and his eldest daughter returned one day after catching as many fish as he could for that day. He left to his good wife the task of cleaning and preparing it for lunch. While they were sitting around the table, his daughter Layla, the youngest of his daughters, asked him how he caught those good fish. He answered her that he only puts bait in his hook or net and throws it to them in the water, waiting quietly while glorifying God.
Until the fish falls into his net or catches on his hook. Layla asked him what makes the fish enter the fishing net, seeing it as a trap. He answered her: The fish that neglects remembering God is the one that falls into the net.
This conversation attracted the attention of his middle daughter Salma. She asked her father: Do the fish glorify like us? He answered her: Yes, my daughter. All of God’s creatures remember Him and glorify His praise and His favor upon them. Every creature has the way it glorifies, for God the Exalted created for every creature its own language that it can use to speak with those of its kind, and also uses it to glorify the Exalted Lord and praise and commend Him.
The next day, the father set out with his youngest daughter Layla to fish and so the small one could help him place the fish in their place inside the basket. The father fished fish all day, glorifying his Lord throughout the period of waiting to catch fish, and gave to his daughter Layla what he caught. Layla would do something without her father knowing. At the end of the day, the father turned to see the amount of fish he had caught, but he found the basket empty. He asked Layla in astonishment: Where did the fish go? The little one answered him that she had been carrying the fish and throwing them back into the river.
The father became extremely angry with his daughter and told her she had corrupted what he had done with her bad thinking. All Layla could do was cry, and she said to him: I remembered your statement yesterday that the fish that fall into the net and are caught have neglected remembering God. So when I saw them today, I wanted to return them to the water again so they would remember God Almighty. The man embraced his daughter with affection and said to her: God has created for us what is in the sea for us to eat fresh meat from it. This doesn’t mean they are prevented from glorifying.