The Reality of Tasawwuf, Part 2: The Power of Intention

In our last post, Hazrat Shaykh (rh) explained the reality of Tasawwuf. Thereafter, he related many stories illustrating it. These days, there are many misconceptions surrounding the reality of Tasawwuf due to the distortions made by a few. Inshallah for the next few posts, we will present the stories that Hazrat Shaykh (rh) related to further illustrate what Tasawwuf actually is.

Thereafter I related many incidents, one of which I had heard from my late father many times and which I had related to the students of hadeeth as well as the attendants of my majlis. The story is: "There is a village called Kernal in the district of Panipat through which the Jamuna River flows. I do not know if still is so. All along the Jamuna, people are able to cross over with their shoes in their hands in the dry months. And when there is much water, there are boats and for a small fee the boat-riders will take you across. When the river is in flood, no one can cross over.

A man accused of murder in Kernal came to cross the river while it was in flfood. He begged all the boat owners to take him across but none of them were prepared, saying that to try and cross the river in that state was to commit suicide by drowning. The poor fellow was in great distress as he had to cross over. Someone saw his anxiety and said to him: "If you do not mention my name, I will show you a way. Further along the Jamuna there is a simple house wherein you will find a faqir type of person. Go to him, beg him, plead to him for help. Do whatever you can to stir his sympathy and as much as he may scold you and even if he should beat you, do not turn away from him."

The man went to the faqir and started to beg. First of all the faqir, as was his habit, scolded him badly: "Am I some sort of god? What is there that I can do?"

However when the man stood crying in front of him [Crying is an easy way of bringing mercy into motion. May Allah also grant me this ability], the saintly fqir said to him, "Alright, go to the river and say to it, the person who never ate any food nor ever approached a woman has sent me to you to ask you to give me place to cross."

He went to the river, said as he was advised and the river allowed him to cross over. In this way his problem was solved.

The saintly faqir was living with his wife and children in the same house. (It is common for the wives of holy men to be an antagonist. While he tried his utmost to be kind so that no injustice is done to her, she on the other hand tries to take unfair advantage thereof).

The wife started crying: "You say you have not eaten all your life! But how is it that without eatinig you have become like an elephant? But leave that alone, how can you say that you have never approached any woman. From where have these children come?"

The poor man immediately assured her: "These are my children. I have never denied fatherhood of my children!" The woman in spite of this assurance again started crying bitterly, screaming: "You have insulted me. You have disgraced me. That man will go to everyone and say that Peer Saheb has never approached a woman, so where do the children come from? All will look upon me with scorn."

The poor saintly faqir went out of his way to try and explain the true meaning of is words, but no matter how much he explained, she just could not understand. She just continued crying and after she had a long session of wailing, he said to her: "Throughout my life, I have indeed eaten solidly. Praise be to Allah. And I have always had sexual relations with you as you well know. The truth of the matter is that during my childhood I heard a learned divine say in a lecture: "Whatever work is done for Allah's sake in fact becomes deen and is not of this world. It becomes an act of worship for which reward is received." From that time till now, whenever I have eaten anything, it has been either with the niyat of acquiring bodily strength and energy for ibaadah or for the sake of pleasing the hear of him who brings me the food or prepared it and feeds me. Similarly since having married you, I have indeed approached you numerous times, but (I have previously heard the advice of Maulana) and thus whenever I approached you I made the intettion of doing my duty to you and to satisfy you, because Allah had placed certain rights due to women upon the shoulders of men." (Finish)

There should be no hesitation in accepting the veracity of the story. The miracles of the prophets of old have given way to the wonder works (Karaamaat) of the saints. Even the walking upon water is an act known to have been performed by the Sahaba Radiyallahu Anhum. There is a special book of min, "The Miraculous Deeds of the Sahaba (RA)" (Karaamaat Sahaba RA) which was written on the order of Hazrat Thanwy Rahmatullahi Alayh. Among the stories therein is one about Sayyidina Alaa bin Hadry who during the jihad against Kisra threw himself and his horse into the river to cross over in such a manner that his saddle did not even become wet. The commander of Kisra on seeing this while sitting in a boat decided to flee as it would be useless fighting such people. (This has been reported by Hafiz Abdul Bar and Tajuddin Subki in shortened form).

(Hazrat Shaykh (rh) mentions a few more stories on this subject. These go on for the next few pages. Inshallah they will be presented in the next few posts. - Scribe)

Aap Beti, Page 61