The Fruit of Belief and Tawakal

Malik b. Dinar (mercy be upon him) says, ”I was on my way to Mecca for the performance of Hajj. When I saw a young boy on foot. He neither had any means of transport nor provision for the journey. I paid him salutationto which he responded.

I said ”O young boy, from where are you coming?” He replied, ”From Him (God). ”Taken back by his reply, I asked him about him about his destination, to which he replied he was returning to God. I asked him,”So where are your provisions of food and water?” The young boy relied, ”I had , at the outset of my journey, some words as the provision of my journey.” I asked him what these words were. He told me: ”These are: Ka’f – Ha’ – Ya’- Ain – Saad – the Holy commandments of the Almighty God.’ He further expalined the words,”Ka’f – The Sufficient; Ha’- The Guide; Ya’- The Protecter; ‘Ain – Knower of all things and Saad – The True To His Promise. Thus a man, the companion of whom is One Who is Sufficient, the unerring guide, the Protecter, the Knower of all things and the true (True of His Words), can never be ruined or entertained by any fear. Can such a person bother another for the carriage of any provision and water during the course of his journey?”

Malik further says,  I wanted to give the young boy my clothes but he refused to take them. The boy replied, ”In the Hereafter, we will be answerable for the permissible things of the world and will have to suffer punishment for the forbidden things.”

When the darkness of night spread over, the young boy turned his face towards the sky and prayed to Allah by uttering these words, ‘O Allah!Favour me with that thing by which Thou art pleased, that is Obedience, and forgive me that thing which causeth Thou no loss, that is Sin’. After this, the people put on their ihram and began to recite the words: ”Here I am to do Thou bidding my Lord!” The young man remained silent. I asked him, ”Why don’t you declare the same?” He replied, ”I am afraid of the response that ”I neither want to talk to you or pay any attention to you (i.e Him not being worthy of service to Allah). After this, he was not seen during the journey.

At last, he was spotted in Mina where he recited some poetic verses,
‘The Beloved, Who is keen to shed my blood, has every right to shed my blood in haram or outside haram. By God! If my soul comes to know with Whom it is related, it may stand headlong instead on foot. O Censorer! Do not censure me for being entangled in His love. If you happen to see, what I am seeing, you would never dare to talk like this. On the day of ‘Id the people sacrified sheep and goats in the way of Allah but the lover of Allah sacrified his life in His way. The people have performed the Hajj but my Hajj is that, I have been able to acquire tranquillity. The people have sacrified sheep and goats but I sacrified my blood and soul. After this he prayed, “The people have gained access to thee by sacrifices. I have nothing to sacrifice save my soul. I offer it to thee for acceptance’. Thereupon he screamed and fell to the ground. He later died.

Malik after witnessing this incident said, “I performed the burial of the young boy and remained anxious and thoughtful about him the whole night. When I fell asleep I saw him in a dream. I asked him, ‘What had happened to you?’ He replied, ‘As had happened with the martyrs of Badr”‘

The Magic of White Garments

It was the practice of Ibrahim Khawas (mercy be upon him) that whenever he set out on a jorney to some place he neither informed anybody nor did anyone have any knowledge of it. All he took with him was a watercistern which he would use for whudu.

Hamid Aswad (mercy be upon him) said,”Once I was in his company, sitting in the mosque when he took his water cistern and set out. I followed him. When we reached Qadsiya he asked me. ”Hamid ! where do you intened to go?” I replied, ”I intened to visit the sacred city of Mecca.” And further added, ”I shall, if Allah so Wills.”

After three days journeying, another young man joined us. He travelled a day and night but did not observe a single prayer. I informed Ibrahim of this. Ibrahim later aked the young man, ”Why have you not observed the prayers?” He replied, ”The prayer is not obligatory on me.” He asked, ” why? Are you not a Muslim?” He answered, ”I am a Christian and in Christianity, I spend the time reposing my trust in God. My inner self had whispered that I had become perfect in the matter of trust. ”I refuted his claim and brought him to the wilderness, with the intention of testing his claim. Ibrahim however said nothing but walked on and advised me not to interfear and allow him to travel with us.

He travelled on with us until we reached Battan Mard. There, Ibrahim asked the Christian, ”What is your name?” He replied, ”My name is Abdul Masih! This is now the boundary of Mecca. The Almighty has prohibited the entry for those who scribe partners to Him”. Furthermore he recited to him a verse from the Qur’an; the translation of which means: “Those, who ascribe partners to Allah, are unclean. They should not even come near the Sacred Mosque.”  The outcome of the test you wanted to give to your inner self is already apparent to you. So you should not enter Mecca. If we happen to see you there we will object to your presence.

Hamid says, “We left him there and moved forward. We reached the sacred city of Mecca. As we passed by Arafat, we saw Abdul Masih there; donned in the lhram. He came to us and fell down at the feet of Ibrahim. Ibrahim asked him, “O Abdul Masih! What happened to you?” He asked Ibrahim not to call him by this name, as he was not the servant of the Masih but a slave of that Being whose slave was also the Masih (Peace be upon him).

Ibrahim then asked him what had brought this change on. He related, “, I sat down at the place where you left me. When another caravan of Muslims passed by, I could not help myself noticing the simple white garments in which they were dressed. Overcome by this, I decided to wear one too and Joined them in their company. On reaching the sacred city of Mecca I saw the House of Allah. At once my previous beliefs had paled into insignificance. I washed myself, became a Muslim and adopted the Ihram. I have been looking for you since the morning.” Thereafter, he remained together with us untill he breathed his last.

Repentance of Malik bin Dinar

Malik bin Dinar narrated the following story about himself, saying, “I was a man who indulged in fun and enjoyment and suffered from an overwhelmingly addiction to wine. I bought a slave girl with whom I was very happy. She later gave birth to a beautiful girl who I loved dearly. I saw her progress from crawling to walking. Whenever I sat down for a drink, she would come and take the cup from my hands and spill the wine on the ground.

At the tender age of two years she died and left me grieving. It was the night of the fifteenth of Sha’ban and I fell asleep drunk. I saw in my dream that it was the Day of Resurrection and I came out of my grave with a huge sea serpent after me. I began to run but it chased me. The faster I ran, the faster it came. I passed by an old man dressed in clean garments who was very weak. I called out to him “O Sheikh, please save me from this monster!” He replied, “O my son, I am a very old man and this monster is too powerful for me, I cannot prevail from it. Perhaps if you carry on someone else may be able to help you.”

I continued to run, with the serpent still following me. I passed by a pit of blazing fire and was about to fall into it, but someone said, ”You are not its inhabitant,” On hearing this I turned and ran towards the mountain, I found that there were many gates to it and each gate had guards. A voice called out, ”Let this wretched man in before his enemy captures him.”

The gates opened and I saw a group of children, their faces shone like the moon, and among them was my little girl! She came towards me like a beam of light and with her right hand hit the serpant, which then fled. She sat by me and said, ”O my father, has not the time arrived for the heart of those who believe to submit to Allah’s reminder (Dhikr) and the truth (Quran) which has been revealed?” I replied, “O my child, do you know the Qur’an?” She answered, ”I lernt it from you.” I then asked, ”O my daughter, What are you doing here?” She said we are Muslim children who have died and we will live here untill the Day of Resurretion and wait for our parents.”

At this I said , ” O my daughter, who was that monster chasing and trying to kill me?” She said, ”O my father, that was your bad deeds, which you accumulated and could have destroyed you.” I then asked, ”And who was that weak old man?” She said, ”He was your good deeds, which you weakened to such an extent that they had no power to defend you. Therefore, O my father, repent and turn towards Allah, and be not among those who will perish,” Suddenly I woke up. I repented for my sins and turned to Allah.

The lesson we learn from this tory is that when young children die in infancy and their parents show patience and control of their emotions, it becomes a means of their salvation in the Hereafter. Allah Most High has taught us, when He tries us with an afflicton, to say: All praise is due to Allah. Truly, we are Allah’s and truly unto Him is the return.

Dirhams from the Sky

Abdul Wahid Bin Zaid relates, I purchased a slave on the condition that he serves me. Once, when it became dark I looked for him in the house, but could not find him.

Early in the morning he came and presented me with a dirham. I asked, “Where did you get it from?” He replied, “I receive a dirham daily and will only give it to you on the condition that you do not ask for me at night.” He would disappear every night and return in the morning with a dirham.

One day my neighbours approached me and shrieked, “O Abdul Wahid sell your slave. He is a grave digger!” This news depressed me. After this I decided to keep a vigilant eye on him. That night after Isha Salah, the slave stood up to leave, he pointed to the door and it opened. He made his way to the second door and did the same and then the same again to the door from which I was watching him. He left the house so I followed him till he reached a stretch of barren land.

He took off his clothes and put on a cloth sack and prayed till Fajr. He then lifted his hand towards the heaven and said, “Oh my Master, give me my small masters pay”. A dirham then fell from the sky. I was mystified and amazed at this. I stood up and performed two rakats and sought forgiveness from Allah, from the evil thought that had crossed my mind. I promised myself that on returning, I would free him.

As I made by way back I looked for him but could not find him. He was no where to be seen. All of a sudden a knight on an armoured horse appeared. He asked, “Oh Abdul Wahid what are you doing here?” I related the incident to him. He then inquired, “Do you know the distance from here to your city?” Oblivious to where I was, I replied in the negative. He informed me that I was approximately two years travelling distance from home. He then said, “Do not move from here till your slave returns tonight”.

When it became dark my slave came. He came with a tray full of food and greeted me with joy and said, “Eat my master, you should not have followed me here”. I ate while he prayed till Fajr. Once he had finished he held my hand and walked a few steps. Instantly we were back to my house. He said, “Oh master now that we are back, did you not make the intention to free me?” I replied affirmatively. He added, ”Free me and take the money you paid for me and you will be rewarded”. He then picked up a stone and gave it to me. I looked at it. Astonishingly it had turned into gold.

The slave soon left. His departure saddened me. Later I met my neighbours and they asked, ”What did you do with the grave digger?” I replied angrily, He is a ‘Noor’ digger and not a grave digger.’

Stories of the Pious by Shaykh Ahmad Ali

Introduction

All praise is due to Allah, The Most Beneficent and The Most Merciful. We praise Him, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of ourselves and the mischief of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides cannot be misguided and whomsoever Allah misguides cannot be guided. Peace and blessings be upon the final messenger, Muhammad (SAW), upon his family and his noble companions Ameen.

Whilst on a visit to Darul-Uloom AI-Arabiya, Lancashire; in search of material for a lecture, by chance I came across a very beautiful piece of work. It was the book ‘Rawdur-Ryyahen Fee Hikaayaat as-Saliheen’ written by a master of the 7th century. The book contains around 500 beautiful stories about the pious, their experiences and their karamaat (miracles). Having read this book I was very intrigued, and realizing that the author had compiled these stories because of his love for the Awliya; immediately the thought of translating the book and benefiting the English speaking Muslims came to mind. However, fearing that I may not be able to complete the translation of the whole book I decided finally to at least translate a few stories to express my love for the Awliya. I hope one day Allah will give tawfiq to somebody to translate the whole book.

The author of the original work, which consists of around 600 pages and 500 stories, was Afifud-Din Abdullah bin As’ad Al- Yamani al- Yafi’ee as-Shafi’ee. Born 696AH near Aadan, Yemen; he was a man of great capability which began to show at a very early age. He benefited from, and studied under, Qadi Najmuddin at-Tabri; Radi -ud- din at- Tabri; Salih Mohammed bin Ahmad al Bassal; Shaykh Sharfud Ahmad bin ali al-Harazi. Acknowled and praised by his teachers he was a great scholar who spent his life serving the deen and his 44 works bear witness to this. His most famous work was ‘Rawdur-Raiyaheen’. He died in 768AH (May Allah grant him paradise).

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