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| The 2 Maidservants / Illustration Only |
Once upon a time, Malik B. Dinar (mercy be upon him) was walking in the streets of Basrah. On the way, he happened to see a female servant walking with such pomp and show as the maidservants of kings generally do. Malik (mercy be upon him) after witnessing how she walked, called her and said: ‘“‘O handmaid! Would your master like to sell you?” She was surprised to hear this voice. She said: “What? Repeat it again.” Malik did accordingly.
She said to him: ‘‘Would a beggar like you, be able to purchase me if master agrees to sell at all?” He replied in the affirmative and added that he could purchase a better one than she. On hearing this reply she laughed and ordered her servants to take this beggar along with them (just for making fun of him). The servants obeyed her orders accordingly. On reaching home she narrated this story to her master, who too laughed boisterously and ordered her to bring him (Hadrat Malik) before him.
When he was brought before him, he (the master) was invested with fear and asked him: ‘‘What do you want?” In reply, he advised him to sell his handmaid to him. He asked him: “Can you pay her price?” Hadrat Malik replied: ‘For me, her price is not more than two stones of dates.’ On hearing this the whole audience began to laugh. The master asked him: ‘What prompted you to fix this price for her ?”’ He replied that there were many shortcomings in her.
The master asked him to let him know those shortcomings. Hadrat Malik enumerated them thus :
"In case she does no perfume, her body emits a foul smell. If she does not have her teeth clean, these begin to putrefy. If she combs not her hair, the dishevelled and untidy hair is infested with lice. She, on becoming a bit old, would bear the appearance of an old faithless and fulfils not her promise. Her love is based on falsehood. As soon as you breathe your last, she will sit by the side of another person and sing the song of her permanent and everlasting love for him, in the same way as she did for you.
On the contrary, said Hadrat Malik (mercy he upon him). I have a handmaid a thousand times better than your handmaid. Her price is much less than hers. She is made of camphor’s essence. She has been fashioned out of musk and saffron. She is covered by pearls and light. If her spittle is cast in saltish water, it will become sweet. In case she speaks to a dead man, he will be restored to life. If her wrist is shown to the sun, it will suffer darkness and eclipse. If she visits a place of darkness, it will begin to illuminate.
If she happens to appear in the world with all her elegance, the whole world will become fragrant. She is brought up in the gardens of musk and saffron. She has played amidst the branches of ruby and coral (a small pearl). Her abode is a place of great blessings. She drinks waiter from Tasnim (a fountain in paradise). She never backs out of her words. Her love is constant. Hadrat Malik (mercy be upon him) then asked the master to let him woman, not worthy to be loved. She menstruates. know what a handmaid is, according to price, more benefit, she makes water and relieves herself.
In other words cial to him. All said unanimously that that handmaid emits all sorts of filths (spittle, mucus, saliva.) She had been more valuable about whom Hadrat Malik suffers from agonies and hardships. She, being much (mercy be upon him) had told them. He added: “Every greedy, shows her love to you merely for herself, one can afford to buy her at any time and in every interest. She shows her love to you only for her age. The people asked Hadrat Malik to tell them about her material benefits.
Today, if any loss is incurred by her price. He told them: “If they want to purchase such because of you, the whole edifice of her love will with- an important and valuable thing, they will have to in no time, be crumbled down. She absolutely spares some time at night and observes two raka‘s of Tahajjud prayer to seek the pleasure of Almighty God; they shall have to invite some poor and the needy to meals at the time of eating; they shall have to give preference to Allah’s pleasure to their own wishes; they shall have to remove away any troublesome thing lying in the way; ‘they shall have to lead simple lives and they will have to be more anxious for their eternal abode than this mortal world.’
‘Then Hadrat Malik (mercy be upon him) told them that if they would act upon this advice, they would lead an honourable life and would be blessed with honour and veneration in the Hereafter and would abide in the paradise (a place of great blessings). under the shadow of Almighty God. After that, the master asked the maid-servant whether she had listened to the advice of the venerable old man. If so, what was her opinion? She said that the preachings of the venerable old man were true and were calculated to promote good and virtue.
The master set the maid-servant free and gave her a portion of his property as a gift. He also set his slaves free and bestowed upon them some property. He donated his house and all its belongings for the welfare of the poor. After casting off his elegant dress and giving it to the poor, he covered his body with a thick cloth of a door’s curtain. The maid servant told her master that she could not live without him. After sacrificing her elegant dress and her property for the welfare of the poor, she also accompanied her master. Malik b. Dinar (mercy of Allah be upon him) prayed for them and departed. Both of them bade farewell to worldly pleasures and dedicated themselves to divine worship and died in that very state. (May Allah bless them and all of us).
READ ALSO;
[CONCERNING THE DEATH OF GOD-FEARING MAN]
[THE STORY OF TWO SLAVE GIRLS.]
[THE STORY OF MUSA BIN MUHAMMAD AL HASHIMY]
[THE STORY OFRASHID BIN SULAIMAN]
[THE STORY OF A CHRISTIAN MAN]
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