Ja‘far b. Sulaiman (mercy of Allah be upon him) is reported to have said that one day he was going with Hadrat Malik b. Dinar (mercy of Allah be upon him) in Basra. They happened to pass by a grand building which was being constructed and a young man who was standing there, was giving directions to the masons regarding the construction of that lofty edifice. Malik b. Dinar (mercy of Allah be upon him) was impressed by the beautiful young man. He pitied him as was involving himself in a useless affair and said: How much is he engrossed in the construction work.
He disclosed that he wished to pray to God to disentangle the young man from that snare to convert him into a true devout. He wished that he could find a place in paradise. He proposed to meet the young man. Ja‘far (mercy of Allah be upon him) is reported to have said that they both went to meet the young man. They greeted him and he reciprocated. He was well-acquainted with Malik (mercy of Allah be upon him) but the young man did not recognize him.
After a short time he, however, recognized and held him in reverence and said what had brought him there. Malik (mercy of Allah be upon him) asked him how much he intended to spend on the construction of the building. The young man told that he intended to spend to the tune of one lakh dirhams. Malik (mercy of Allah be upon him) said that he should give him one lakh dirhams, and he would take it on himself to provide him with an abode in paradise which would be far better than the building he had been constructing on the earth, In his heavenly abode he would contain a train of attendants.
There would be pavilions and cupolas made of red ruby studded with pearls. Its clay would be made of saffron and its mortar would be made of musk which would cause to diffuse fragrance. It would neither grow old nor there would be any danger of its collapse. It would be constructed not by means but by the command of the Almighty. The young man requested him to allow him time to think over it and told him to come early the next day when he would give him a definite reply. Hadrat Malik (mercy of Allah be upon him) returned and thought of the young man all night. In the midnight he earnestly prayed for the young man. At dawn, they both called at his house. The young man had already been waiting for them outside his house.
He was immensely pleased to see Hadrat Malik (mercy of Allah be upon him). The latter asked the young man what decision he had taken in the matter. The young man enquired as to whether he would keep his promise. Hadrat Malik (mercy of Allah be upon him) assured him that he would do so. The young man brought the bags full of dirhams and put them before him. He also brought a pen. Hadrat Malik (mercy of Allah be upon him) took a paper and wrote on it: ‘In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful”.
Then he made an agreement to the effect that ‘“‘Malik b. Dinar had taken the responsibility for providing the young man with an abode in paradise in the neighborhood of the Almighty instead of the present palace and that the aforesaid palace would have not only all the amenities (which have been mentioned above and which were again repeated in the agreement) but also some extra amenities. After executing the agreement, he handed it over to a young man and taking one lakh of dirhams, went away. Ja‘far (mercy of Allah be upon him) is reported to have said that in the evening he had not even so much money with which he could buy food even for a single time.
Forty days had hardly lapsed after that incident, when one day Hadrat Malik (mercy of Allah be upon him) after saying his morning prayers, saw a paper in the arch of the mosque. That was the same agreement that had been executed by him with the young man. On the back of the page, it was written (but no ink appeared to have been used) to the effect that it was the fulfillment of the responsibility taken by Malik B. Dinar and the promise that he had made with the young man. It had been fulfilled completely and seventy times better than those terms. Hadrat Malik (mercy of Allah be upon him) was astonished to read that- paper.
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]
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