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| When The Worldly Enjoyment that sways from Iman. [Illustration only] |
Story of Musa b. Mohammad b. Sulaiman Al-Hashmi
Musa b. Sima‘k (mercy be upon him) says that Musa b. Mohammad b. Sulaiman Al-Hashmi was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He was taken to the sensuous pleasures of life. The handsome boys and girls always absorbed his attention. He had neither any grief nor any anxiety to disturb him. He himself was the most beautiful man, handsome like a moon. He had all the amenities of life for him. His annual income was three lakhs and three thousand dinars annually. which was entirely spent on his swank living.
He had a high balcony, with many windows opening towards the thoroughfare, through which he could see the people moving to and fro. And on the other side of his castle, there were also many windows opening towards a garden through which he could enjoy the fragrance of the flowers. There was built a vault made of elephant tusks fixed with silver nails and studded with a sheet of jewels. And that Hashmi had put on a turban on his head embellished with jewels.
His friends and relatives were always seen gathered in that vault. The servants kept themselves standing behind them respectfully. In the front, there was always a troupe of female dancers and singers. Whenever he had the desire to listen to the songs, he used to cast a look at the guitar and all presented themselves before him, and when he desired to stop it, he did that by the gesture of his hand and the festivity came to an end.
This state of affairs continued late at night till he was overwhelmed by sleep. When he, under the effect of intoxication, became senseless and his companions also went away, he caught any of the girls whom he liked and committed fornication with her the whole night. At dawn, he became busy in playing chess and Chaucer. Sorrow and anxiety, and death and sickness of any human being had no effect on him. He only knew merriment and laughter.
Each day the newscents which were available at any place in that age, were brought to him. Excellent bouquets of sweet fragrant flowers were presented to him. In this state, he spent his twenty-seven years. One night, he was in his apartment busy with enjoyment when he suddenly heard a very sweet voice which was quite different from that of his singers, but it was very fascinating.
No sooner did he hear that voice than he began to feel uneasy. He ordered his singing girls to stop singing and began to hear that voice by stretching out his head outside the window of his room. For some moments that voice remained audible and then stopped. He ordered his servants to bring the man before him whose voice he had been hearing.
The cups of wine were rotating in the company. The servants ran out hurriedly into the direction whence the voice was coming and entered into a mosque, where they found a young man standing in a corner of the mosque and talking to his Lord.
He was pale and weak. His neck was slender; his lips dry. His hair was dirty and his belly pressed in. He had put on two sheets of cloth, which hardly covered his body. These people caught hold of him and nothing was said or told to him. Within no time, they removed him from the mosque and produced him before that Hashmi who was sitting in the balcony and they said: ‘‘Here is he, Sir.’”’ He, being under the influence of wine, said: “‘Who is he ?” They begged and told him :
‘‘He is that man the voice of whom you had heard.” He asked them: ‘‘From which place you have brought him here ?”? They told him that he was in a mosque. He was standing and reciting the Holy Qur’an. That rich man asked the young saint: ‘‘What were you reciting?’ He said: ‘“‘A’auzobillah” and then recited some verses of the Holy Qur’an from Surah atTatfif (Defrauding), the translation of which is given below
“Lo! The righteous verily are in delight, couches, gazing. Thou wilt know in their face the radiance of delight. They are given to drink pure wine which is sealed. Whose seal is musk—For this let (all) those strive for bliss—And mixed with water of Tasnim, a spring whence those brought near to Allah drink’.
Thus, those who are jealous of others’ fortune, should be greedy for such things (and be anxious to get more blessings by good deeds and, as such, we should vie with each other in those deeds by which we can be favoured with these blessings). And that wine will be mixed with the water of Tasnim (if something is mixed. with wine, its potency is increased) and that Tasnim is a spring in the Heaven whence those brought near to Allah drink. Those who are near to Allah will get pure water from this spring and some water will be mixed from this spring with the wine to be given to pious men).
After this, the poor young man said: “O you who are deceived: Your palace, this high balcony and carpets! these have no comparison with them whatsoever.”
Those are. raised couches upon which carpets are spread. Those are very high couches. (The Event-1). Their couches are lined with silk brocade. (The Beneficent-3). “Those people are reclining on green cushions and fair carpets. (The Beneficent-3). The friend of Allah, sitting on these couches will see two such ever bubbling springs which will be _ playing between two gardens. (The Beneficent-3). In these two gardens, there is every kind of fruit in pairs. Every kind of fruit will have two different tastes.
(The Beneficent-3). Those fruits will neither be perishing nor there will be any restriction for plucking them (as we are prohibited from plucking them in the world by the gardener) (The Event-1). These people will be in a blissful state in a high garden. (The Reality1).
They will be in such a high garden where they hear no idle speech; wherein is a gushing spring; wherein are couches raised; and goblets set at hand; and cushions ranged, and silken carpets spread. (The Overwhelming). Those people are amid shade and fountains. (The Emissaries-2;} The fruits of its Garden are everlasting, and its shade also; this -is the reward of those who keep their duty, while the reward of disbelievers is the Fire. (The Thunder-5).
How painful that fire will be. (May God protect us from that). Lo! The guilty are immortal in hell’s torment. It is not relaxed for them, and they despair therein. (Ornaments of Gold-6). Lo! The guilty are in error and madness. On the day when they are dragged into the Fire upon their faces (it is said unto them) Feel the touch of hell. (The Moon-3). Those people will be in fire, in boiling water and shadow of black smoke (The Event-1).
The guilty man will long to rescue himself from the punishment of that day at the even price of his children, his spouse and his brother, and his kin that harboured him, and all that are in the earth, if then it might deliver him. But nay for lo! it is the fire of hell, eager to roast! it calleth him who turned and fled (from the truth), and hoarded (wealth) and withheld it. (The Ascending Stairways).
Such a man will be angry; he will be in everlasting doom.
In this discourse, the young pious man has alluded to numerous verses of the Holy Qur’an, relating to Heaven and Hell, and has also made references to Surahs of the Holy Qur’an from where these have been quoted.
On listening to the discourse of the young pious man, the rich Hashmi stood up from his seat embraced him and began to weep loudly. He said to all his companions to go away and then took the young saint with him in the courtyard and sat on a rough mat; there he lamented over his youth and kept on weeping for his past state of affairs and the young saint was busy in imparting lessons to him till it was dawn. In the first instance, he repented for his sins
in the presence of the young saint and made a solemn pledge before Almighty God for not committing any sin in future. For the second time, he repented for his sins during the time before the whole gathering. He made a sincere repentance and then took to worship of Almighty God in a corner of the mosque. He sold all his belongings and all his goods and spent their proceeds on the welfare of the public.
He dismissed all his servants. He returned all those things, which he had appropriated unjustly to the real owners of them. He freed most of the servants and handmaids, and most of them were sold by him and their price was spent on the welfare of the public. He put on rough clothes. He began to eat barley bread. The whole night he worshipped God and during the day, kept fast. At last, the saints and pious people began to visit him. He showed such keenness in the worship of God that people begged him to take pity on himself and not to burden his being with an unbearable burden.
He instructed him that Almighty God is the most Beneficent and gives a great reward for a little effort. But he used to say: “‘O friends! Only I know in what position I am. I disobeyed my God day and night. I committed many a major and minor sins.” After saying this, he kept on weeping and wept bitterly. In this condition, he walked towards Mecca _ barefooted for the performance of the Pilgrimage (Hajj). He had put on a thick cloth on his body.
He had with him one bowl and a bag only. In this condition, he reached Mecca and after the performance of Hajj, he stayed there till the end of his life (may mercy be upon him) During his stay at Mecca, he went, in ‘Hatim’ and wept vehemently, implored humbly and earnestly and used to say: ‘‘O my Lord! I have passed many of my solitudes but never cared about Thee. I annoyed Thee with horrible sins. My Lord! I have lost all my goods. (I have gained nothing). There is a burden of sins upon me now. There will be destruction for me on the day (The Day of Judg: ment) when I will be meeting with Thee. In other words, there is ruin upon ruin for me, that is, great destruction on the day when my scroll will be opened before me.
Ah! That will be filled with wicked deeds and sins committed by me, but ruin has befallen me because of Thine anger and Thine anger is a destruction for me which is due to my defiant attitude towards Thee and for misusing the favours and blessings Thou showered upon me. And Thou were seeing all this disobedience of mine. O my Lord! There is no place a great torture and in painful doom; he will be a victim of Almighty God’s
for shelter for me, except Thee, where I may find escape.
There is none save Thee to beseech.
There is none save Thee to trust in.
My Lord! I am not in is none save Thee to trust in.
My Lord! I am not in a position to pray Thee for heaven but I pray Thee
in the name of Thy Kindness, Forgiveness and Thy
Grace to take pity on me and forgive me my sins.” “These are the people who are near to Allah and who are forgiven’.
Hadrat 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 walking on foot. He had neither any conveyance, nor provision for the journey, nor water. I paid him salutations which he readily responded.” I said: ““O young boy whence are you coming ?” He told me: “From Him (God).” I again asked him about his destination, to which he replied that he was returning to God. I asked him: ‘Where is your provision for the journey?”
He said: “This is up to Him (God) to provide me that.” I told him: “It is impossible to cover this journey without the provision of meals and water. Don’t you have something with you ?” The young boy replied: “I had, at the outset of: my journey, some words as the provision for the journey.” I asked him: ‘Which are those five words?’ He told me: “These are: Ka’f-ha’-ya’-ain-s —the holy commandments of Almighty God.” He further explained the meanings of these five words as under:—
(1) Ka’f——The Sufficient ;
(2) Ha’ The Guide ;
(3) Ya’ The Protector ;
(4) ‘Ain——Knower of all things; and
(5) S ——The True—True to his promise.
Thus a man, the companion of whom is Sufficient, the unerring Guide, the Protector, the Knower of all things and the True (True to His words), can ever be ruined or entertain any fear? Can such a person bother for the carriage of any provision and water during his journey? Hadrat Malik (mercy be upon him)' says: “I wanted to give the young boy my shirt but he refused to take it and said: ‘O aged man! Is it not better to be bare than to get a shirt’? He further said: ‘In the Hereafter, we will be answerable for the permissible things of the world and will have to suffer punishment for the forbidden things of the world’.’?
When the darkness of night spread over, the young boy turned his face towards the sky and prayed to Allah Who is pleased when His bondsmen obey Him, and suffers no loss if His bondsmen disobey Him, by uttering these words: “O God ! 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 ‘[hram’ (pilgrims dress) and began to recite the words: ‘Here I am to do Thy bidding mv Lord !”" But the young boy was silent.
I asked him: Why don’t you declare: ‘Here I am to do Thy bidding my Lord!” He said: “I fear if I say: Here I am to do Thy bidding my Lord”; the reply may be: “I neither hear your talk nor pay any attention towards you". Then he went away. After this, he was not seen during the journey. At last, he was seen in Mina where he recited some poetic verses, the translation of which is given as under: 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 censurer! Do not censure me for being entangled in His love.
If you happen to see, what I am seeing, you never dare to talk like this. The people make a circuit of the holy Ka‘ba bodily and, if they make a circuit of the Exalted God, there will be no need for them of the ‘Haram’. On the day of ‘Id the people sacrificed sheep and goats in the way of Allah but the lover of Allah sacrificed his life in His way. The people have performed the Hajj but my Hajj is that I have been able to get tranquillity. The people have sacrificed sheep and goats but I sacrifice my blood and soul. After this, he prayed: ‘O God! The people have gained access to them by sacrifices. I have nothing to sacrifice to save my soul. I offer it to Thee for acceptance’. Thereupon he screamed and fell down dead. After this incident, a hidden voice was heard: ‘‘He is the companion of Allah. He is a martyr in the cause of Allah.”
Hadrat Malik (mercy be upon him) says: “I performed the burial of the young boy and remained anxious and thoughtful about him the whole night. In the meantime, I fell asleep and saw him in the dream.” I asked him: ‘ What had happened to you?” He told:
*‘As had happened with the martyrs of Badr.”
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