{"id":18612,"date":"2020-09-23T14:17:59","date_gmt":"2020-09-23T14:17:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/new\/?p=18612"},"modified":"2024-10-09T07:50:14","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T05:50:14","slug":"admonished-by-a-madman","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/?p=18612","title":{"rendered":"Admonished by a \u2018Madman\u2019\u200b"},"content":{"rendered":"

Fadhal bin Rabee\u2019 narrates the following incident:<\/p>\n

I once set out for hajj in the company of the khaleefah, Haroon Rasheed. En route, we passed by the city of Kufah\u00a0where we encountered Bahlool, (who was known as) the madman (due to him being madly in love with Allah Ta\u2018ala), who was muttering and babbling away.\u00a0I said to him, \u201cKeep silent! Ameerul Mu-mineen has arrived!\u201d Thus, he ceased his muttering and remained silent.<\/p>\n

When the carriage of Haroon Rasheed drew near to him, he suddenly called out, \u201cO Ameerul Mu-mineen! Ayman bin Naabil narrated to me that Qudaamah bin \u2018Abdillah Al-\u2018Aamiri (radhiyallahu \u2018anhu) mentioned, \u2018I saw Nabi (sallallahu \u2018alaihi wasallam) mounted on a camel in Mina. He (sallallahu \u2018alaihi wasallam) was seated on a worn, old saddle.\u00a0There (in the presence of Rasulullah [sallallahu \u2018alaihi wasallam]), the people were not struck, pushed or shouted at, \u201cMove! Move!\u201d\u00a0(i.e. the Sahaabah [radhiyallahu \u2018anhum] were neither hitting the people nor pushing them to clear the path for Rasulullah [sallallahu \u2018alaihi wasallam], as your entourage are doing here for you today).\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Fadhal bin Rabee\u2019 swiftly remarked, \u201cO Ameerul Mu-mineen! He is (merely) Bahlool, the madman!\u201d Haroon Rasheed replied, \u201cI know, I recognize him.\u201d Haroon then turned to Bahlool and said, \u201cIf you wish to say something, you may do so.\u201d Bahlool addressed Haroon Rasheed and recited the following couplets:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cSuppose that you rule over the entire earth, and all the people are subservient to you, what will be so great about that?<\/em><\/p>\n

Is not your journey tomorrow towards the pit of the grave, where this person and that person will throw sand upon you?\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

When Haroon Rasheed heard these couplets, he praised Bahlool saying, \u201cYou have spoken excellently, O Bahlool!\u201d He then asked, \u201cIs there anything else that you wish to say?\u201d Bahlool answered, \u201cYes, O Ameerul Mu-mineen!\u201d He then said,\u00a0\u201cThe person who is blessed with beauty and wealth by Allah Ta\u2018ala, but he exercises chastity in his beauty, and generosity in his wealth, his name will be recorded in the register of the pious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haroon Rasheed thought that he was indirectly asking for some wealth. Hence, Haroon Rasheed said to him, \u201cWe have instructed for all your debts to be settled.\u201d However, Bahlool replied, \u201cDo not do that, O Ameerul Mu-mineen!\u00a0Do not settle one debt by incurring another\u00a0(i.e. do not use the wealth of the public, meant for public benefit, for my personal benefit)!\u00a0Return the rights of those whose rights are outstanding or usurped, and use your own wealth to settle your debts,\u00a0as you only have one life and chance. I take an oath in the name of Allah Ta\u2018ala, if your life comes to an end, it will never again be restored.\u201d<\/p>\n

Haroon Rasheed then said to Bahlool, \u201cWe have given the instruction that you should be given an allowance.\u201d Once again, Bahlool replied, \u201cDo not do this, O Ameerul Mu-mineen!\u00a0Allah Ta\u2018ala will not give you and forget about me. That Being who has given you all that you have, is responsible for giving me what I need, hence I have no need for your allowance.\u201d\u00a0Bahlool then turned and departed while reciting the following couplets:<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u201cI place my reliance and trust solely in Allah Ta\u2018ala, and I do not have expectations or hopes in anyone besides Allah Ta\u2018ala.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sustenance does not come from people, rather sustenance is from Allah Ta\u2018ala.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

(Al-Bidaayah wan Nihaayah vol. 10, pg. 270 and \u2018Uyoonul Hikaayaat pg. 48)<\/em><\/p>\n

Lessons:<\/strong><\/p>\n

1. No matter what position or rank a person may hold in life, he should always remain humble and should never use his power and position to abuse the rights of others.\u00a0One effective method to gain this humility is for a person to ponder over the reality of the grave. Whether rich or poor, black or white, male or female, every person will eventually be placed in the grave.\u00a0Once in the grave, it may even be those very people whom he threatened and abused who will scatter sand over him. At that point, all the money and influence in the world will be of no avail.\u00a0Hence, one should remain prepared for the grave at all times.<\/p>\n

2. Even though Haroon Rasheed was the king of the time, his position did not prevent him from allowing others to advise him,\u00a0nor did he regard it below his dignity to accept correction from others.\u00a0In fact, he was eager for correction, as he had even asked Bahlool for further advice.\u00a0Hence even if the person advising us is our junior, we should be grateful and accept the correction if we are deserving of it.<\/p>\n

3. We should never entertain hopes and expectations in people.\u00a0If we do so, we will inevitably be disappointed when our hopes are not fulfilled. Even if our hopes are fulfilled, we will lose our dignity and respect, as people will view us as \u2018users\u2019 and opportunists.\u00a0Allah Ta\u2018ala alone is the giver. If we place our hopes in Allah Ta\u2018ala, we will never be disappointed. Furthermore, it is only Allah Ta\u2018ala whose pleasure increases the more our requests and du\u2018aas to Him increase.<\/p>\n

4. Public wealth is a trust (amaanah).\u00a0Thus, we must exercise extreme caution in dealing with public wealth.\u00a0Public funds and facilities funded with wealth of the public should never be misused, as we will be answerable for it.<\/p>\n

>>>Download Musjid Poster\u00a0Page 1<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Page 2<\/a><<<<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[…]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":18613,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspirational-incidents"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18612","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18612"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18612\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21035,"href":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18612\/revisions\/21035"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18613"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18612"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18612"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alhaadi.org.za\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18612"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}