 |
Home | |
 |
 |
Contents |
|
 Miscellaneous |
Muhammed bin Sammak rahmatullahi
alaih relates "Musa bin Muhammed bin Sulaiman Al-Hashmi was a nobleman
Banu Umayyah clan who had been brought up in affluent circumstances, engaging
himself in eating, drinking and merrymaking, having most elegant clothes
to wear and indulging in all kinds of lusts and sensual pleasures. Himself
a handsome young man with a moon-like face, he lived in a palace enjoying
the company of beautiful women and men, far away from the worries and cares
of the world.
Allah Ta'ala had showered upon him all kinds of bounties and favours;
his annual income amounted to three hundred and three thousand (303,000)
dinaars which he spent in pastimes and lustful pursuits. He lived in a
lofty mansion, with windows on one side, opening out to the main road;
he would sit beside one of these and watch the wayfarers walking outside.
There were windows, on the other side of the building, that opened out
to a beautiful garden from which cool and fresh breezes blew, laden with
sweet fragrances of flowers. In the middle of the palace, there stood a
domed pavilion of ivory, studded with nails of silver and burnished with
gold.
The young Hashmi
sat
in his pleasure-dome, with a gem studded turban tied around his head, reclining
on a throne covered with jewelled brocade in company with close friends
and companions, while his attendants stood at respectable distance, awaiting
his orders. In the front of the pavilion sat a company of dancers and singing
girls; whenever he wanted to listen to music, he just glanced at the guitar,
the singers came forward and began to sing songs and play the instruments.
When he wanted the music to stop, he pointed to the instruments and the
music stopped. These merriment's went on till late at night until sleep
overpowered him. When he was intoxicated with excessive drinking, his friends
went away and he retired to his private apartment, with girl that pleased
his fancy. He spent his mornings playing chess and dice.
Nobody ever talked to him of matters painful or concerning death and diseases.
His parties were devoted to merrymaking, anecdotes were related and jokes
and pleasantries went round. Each day, people brought to him rich varieties
of the rarest perfumes from all over the country and nice vases of sweet
smelling flowers presented to him.
The chieftain spent twenty seven years of his life in such luxuries and
pastimes. One night, when sitting as usual, in his pavilion, he heard a
sweet voice coming from a distant place; unlike the voice of his own singers,
but most melodious and charming, which made him restless. He ordered the
music to stop and leant out of the window to listen attentively to the
voice. The voice floated on the air for some time, then silence fell and
then it became audible again.
The chieftain ordered his servants to fetch the man responsible for this
charming tones. While their master continued to drink wine, the servants
tracked the voice to a thin and lean young man, weak in body, pale in face,
with parched lips and dishevelled hair; his belly drawn close to his back,
dressed in to two rags that just covered his nakedness, standing in salah
before Allah ta'ala and reciting from the holy Qur'an. They caught hold
of the man without telling him why, took him out of theMasjid
and presented him to their master; saying, "Here is the person you wanted,
sir".
The chieftain who was now dead-drunk and not in his proper senses, asked,
"Who is this man?"
They told him that he was the one whose voice heard a few moments ago.
He asked them where they found the man and they said that he was offering
salaah in a Masjid and reciting from the Holy
Qur'aan. The chieftain then asked the ragged young man what he was
reciting and he began to recite, beginning with:
Lo! The righteous verily are in delight (of Jannah);
On couches, gazing (at that the wonders of jannah), Thou wilt know in their
faces the of delight. They are given to drink of a pure wine, sealed, whose
seal is musk - for this, let (all) those strive who strive for bliss (of
jannah)-(as this bliss can only be achieved as a recompense for good deeds,
let them try to excel one another in the performance of good deeds). And,(that
wine) is mixed with the water of 'tasneem',
a spring whence those brought near to Allah drink. (the drink served to
the righteous will be seasoned with the water of Tasneem, which is a speciality,
meant only for those brought near to Allah [Muqarraboon], who will have
it pure in its undiluted form).' (Qur'aan 83:22-28)
The ragged man said to the chieftain; "O you have been deceived! Your palace,
your pavilion and your couches can not compare with those:
'Lined couches of Jannah.'
(Qur'aan 56:15)
'Couches lined with
silk brocade.' (Qur'aan 55:54)
'Green cushions and fair carpets' (Qur'aan 55:76)
'(While
reclining on these couches, the Jannati
will see two garden) Wherein are two fountains flowing.'(Qur'aan 55:50)
'Wherein (in these two gardens) is every kind of fruit in pairs (each pair
of fruit having two different tastes).' (Qur'aan 55:52) 'Fruit in plenty.
Neither out of reach nor yet forbidden.'(Qur'aan 56:32/3)
(Unlike the gardens of this world, of which not every is allowed to eat!)"
The man went on reciting
verses from the Holy Qur'aan comparing jannah and the circumstances of
its inhabitants, with those describing jahannam
and the circumstances of thejahannamis, thus;
&nbs p;
Then he will be in a blissful state. In a high garden.' (Qur'aan
69:21/22)
'In 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.' (Qur'aan 88:10-16)
'Lo! Those who kept
their duty are amid shade and fountains.' (Qur'aan 77:4 )
'Its food is everlasting,
and its shade ;this is the reward of those who keep their duty while the
reward of disbelieves is fire'.(Qur'aan 13:35)
'Lo! The guilty are
immortal in Hell's torment. It is not relaxed from them, and they dispair
therein'.(Qur'aan 43:74/75)
'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.'(Qur'aan 54:47/48)
"(The guilty will be)
In scorching wind and scalding water. And shadow of black smoke .,(Qur'aan
56:42/43)
'Though they will be given
sight of them. The guilty man will long be able to ransom himself from
the punishment of that day at the price of his children , And 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 truth) ,And
hoarded (wealth) and withheld it.'(Qur'aan 70:11-18)
'And wrath is
upon them and theirs will be an awful doom .'(Qur'aan 42:16)
'They will wish
to come forth from the Fire, but they will not come forth from it. Theirs
will be a lasting doom (Qur'aan 5:36)
When the man had thus recited
a good many verse, about jannah and jahannam, the Hashmi chief
rose from his seat and embraced him, weeping and crying most
bitterly. He told his friends to go away and, himself went out, with
the poor man, to the courtyard of his palace, were he sat on a rug
and wept and cried with deep remorse over his past youth, while the poor
man sat there till dawn admonishing him to repent and exhorting him
to start a life of piety. The hashmi then repented deeply of his
sins, before the poor man, and made a covenant with Allah ta'ala that he
would sin no more.
In the morning, he made public
repentance, in the presence of his friends and other people, and sat in
a corner of the Masjid leading a life of devotions and holy seclusion's.
He gave away, as sadaqah, all the assets of his house, distributed all
his belongings among the poor, dismissed all his servants, set free most
of his slave boys and slave girls, sold others and spent the money received,
in return, for the course of Allah Ta'ala.
He made full requital of
all the wrongs done to others and paid all that was due from him to the
people, returned all things he had taken wrongly and forcibly to their
owners. Then he entered a life of austerity, wearing coarse cloth and eating
barley bread. He stood all night in nafl salaah and fasted by the day and
begun to lead a life of self mortifying austerities. So much so, that the
saints and spiritual sheikhs
of his time came to visit him and advised not to chastise himself so severely,
saying, "Take pity on yourself, Allah Ta'ala is most merciful and his bounty
is beyond our estimation. He grants bounteous rewards for little
pains."
He would reply, "My friends
you do not know how much I sinned against my lord, day and night. I
defied his commandments. I indulged in most heinous crimes." And he would
then weep profusely.
The chieftain then undertook
a journey for hajj, travelling all the way on foot, and dressed in coarse
cloth, with a cup and small bag of provisions. He reachedMakkah,
performedhajj, and stayed there afterwards, till his
death. May Allah grant him his bounteous blessings.
During his stay in Makkahmukarramah,the
chieftain used to go to the Hateem by night and spend the whole night wimpering,weeping
and crying unto Allah. He would say in the course of his invocation,"O'Allah!many
a hour of night have I spent in utter heedlessness, never for a moment
remembering Thee. I defied thee,my Lord, by disobeying Thee and by transgressing
Thy commandments.My Lord,all my virtues have been lost. The opportunity
to do good has been wasted away. I am left with a burden of sin laid on
my back! Ah! Woe is me! What shall I do on the day when I shall be made
to stand before Thee(for reckoning after death).
Ah! Most woeful for me, will
be the day when my book of deeds shall be enrolled! What a shame for me
to find my scroll replete with sins. O'Allah!I feel Thy wrath descending
upon me now. O'Allah, Thy wrath is my damnation.O'Allah Thou showered Thy
blessings and bounties upon me, but I turned away from Thee, like a most
ungrateful slave, defying commandments, thus incurring Thy wrath, O'Allah,
Thou was ever-watching
over me(while I sinned most shamefacedly)
and forbearing to punish me.O' Allah where else can I find shelter except
in Thee. O'Allah whither could I flee. Thou alone are my resort. Thee alone
I beseech in my misery. Whom should I impore but Thee. Whom clemency shall
I trust but Thine.
O'Allah, O'Most merciful Lord,
I feel ashamed to ask Thee for Jannah ;I impore Thee, my Lord invoking
Thy infinite mercy, Thy all-embracing magnanimity ,Thy vast bounty, to
have mercy on me and grant forgiveness to me. For Thou alone are the fount
of fear and the fount of mercy."
(Fazail-e-Sadaqaat
p.679-682)
GLOSSARY
ALLAH - GOD
MASJID -A PLACE OF WORSHIP FOR THE
MUSLIMS
JANNAH - PARADISE
SALAH - PRAYER
JAHANAM - HELL
HASHIMI - A PERSON FROM THE
TRIBE OF BANU-HASHIM
TASNEEM - SPRING WATER
FAZAIL -E- SADAQAAT - VIRTURES OF
CHARITY
MAKKAH-A PLACE IN SAUDI-ARABIA
MUKARRAMAH - HOLY
QUR'AAN - THE HOLY BOOK OF MUSLIM
HAJJ - PILGRIMAGE
SHEIKH - RESPECTED PERSON
JANATI-A PERSON FROM JANNAH
JAHANNAMI-A PERSON FROMJAHANNAM
|
Home | |
|
|
Contents |
|
Miscellaneous |
