THE SUPPLICATION OF A BELIEVER

Abdullah Ibn Tahir, the Governor of Khurasan, was very just. His gendarmes captured some thieves and reported them to the Governor. One of the thieves escaped. Mistakenly, in his place, a blacksmith from Hirat was caught on his way back from Nishapur at night. He was brought to the presence of the Governor with the thieves. The Governor said, “Imprison them!” The blacksmith made an ablution and performed salat (daily prayer). He stretched his hands and supplicated, “O my Allah! You alone know that I am innocent. Only You can free me from this jail. O my Allah! Protect me!” That night, the Governor woke up just as four strong men were about to turn his throne upside-down in his dream. He immediately made an ablution and performed two rak’ats [1] of salat. He went to sleep again. He again woke up upon dreaming that those four men were about to pull his throne down. He realized that he had been oppressing someone.


The Governor immediately called the director of the jail for that night and asked him whether there was a prisoner kept unjustly. When the director said, “I cannot know him. But there is someone who performs namaz, prays much and sheds tears.” The blacksmith was brought to the presence of the Governor, who asked him questions, realized that he was innocent, begged his pardon and said, “Please forgive me for having done an injustice to you, accept my gift of one thousand silver coins and come to me whenever you have a wish!”

The blacksmith said, “I forgive you and accept your gift. But I cannot come to you for the solution of my problems and the fulfilment of my wishes.” When he was asked its reason, he said, “Does it befit a slave like me, a humble person, to submit my wishes to someone other than my Proprietor who several times overturned the throne of a Sultan like you? He made me attain so many wishes of mine. How could I take refuge in someone else? While my Rabb [2] has opened the door of His Treasure of Endless Mercy and spread His Table of Infinite Endowment for everybody, how can I have recourse to others?

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GLOSSARY

[1] Rak’at: In performing namaz, the actions of standing, bowing and putting the head on the ground twice are altogether called a rak’at. Most prayers of namaz consist of two or four rak’ats. One of them contains three rak’ats.

[2] Rabb: Allahu ta’ala as the Creator and ‘Trainer’