AN AABID’S DESIRE IS FULFILLED
An Aabid in a Musjid, in his Dua, supplicated: “O Rabbul Izzat! Today I desire to eat halwah,
etc. (he specified in his dua the exact type of halwa, etc. he desired).” The Aabid was making
this dua audibly. A trader who was sitting nearby, hearing this queer dua, said to himself: “This
man is making this dua audibly so that I hear and fulfil his desire. His motive is only that I
should feed him the halwah of his craving. Of what benefit is this scheme? If he had directly
asked me, I would have fed him the halwah. But, now I shall never do it.”
The trader had concluded that the Aabid was an impostor. After completing his dua, the
Aabid went to a corner in the Musjid and fell asleep while the trader remained where he was.
Suddenly the trader saw a man with a cloth and the exact kind of halwah and food which the
Aabid had requested in his dua. The stranger looked around the Musjid. When he saw the Aabid
sleeping, he aroused him and presented the dastarkhwaan (table cloth) with the halwah, etc. The
Aabid ate a small quantity and returned the remainder to the stranger.
The trader was observing the scene with astonishment. When the stranger was departing, the
trader went up to him and said: “For Allah’s sake tell me are you acquainted with this Aabid or
is there some hidden mystery in this episode of you bringing the food to him?” The stranger
replied: “I do not know him. I am an ordinary labourer. I earn a small sum of money which is
insufficient for needs of my family. For a full year I had the desire to eat the kind of food which
I had presented to the Aabid. My wife and children have been yearning for this delicious halwah,
but I could not afford it. Today, a man for whom I worked, unexpectedly paid me a large sum as
my wage. I purchased the requisites for preparing the food and gave it to my wife.
Meanwhile, I fell asleep. Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) appeared in my dream and
said: ‘Today in your Musjid, a Wali of Allah is a guest. Present to him all the food which you
have prepared today. He will eat some and return the remainder to you. If you fulfil this request,
I guarantee your entry into Jannat.’ I have thus brought the food to the Aabid in obedience to the
command of Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam).”
With a grieving heart for having allowed this wondrous opportunity to slip from his grasp,
the trader implored: ‘I shall give you ten times the amount you have spent on this food in return
for a small amount of the thawaab destined for you.’ The labourer said: ‘I cannot exchange even
a little of this wonderful reward for the wealth of the entire world. It is a reward guaranteed by
Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi wasallam).”
The remorse, grief and hopelessness of the trader were truly lamentable. The lesson of this
episode is never to make any decision on the basis of baseless suspicion. Suspicion had deprived
the wealthy man from the wonderful treasure promised by Rasulullah (sallallahu alayhi
wasallam). What would the man of wealth had lost by feeding the Aabid even if he was truly an
impostor? At the minimum, he would have fulfilled the desire of a beggar who was craving to
eat something which he was unable to afford. Satisfying lawfully the yearning heart of a faqeer
is more rewardable than a 100 Hajj according to Hadhrat Bishr Haafi (rahmatullah alayh). The
wealthy and the proud ones should take note.
Allah Ta’ala has a variety of kinds of relationships with His Auliya. With some Auliya the
relationship is extremely informal. Allah Ta’ala fulfils their precise desires directly and swiftly.
Such golden opportunities should never be allowed to slip by. They are irreplaceable. An
opportunity of this type allowed to slip by never returns again even if a man should spend his
entire wealth in the Path of Allah with sincerity.
