Miracles
Miracles
The Walis of Allah, acting on behalf
and under the stamp of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) and not proclaiming
their existence and position' until commanded by Allah serve humanity, by their
preccipts and examples and pray incessantly for the general forgiveness of
human sins.
The idea regarding the existence of
such Walis and their approach towards some form of intercession for humanity is
borne out by Verses 20-27 of Sura Yasin, a perusal of which will show that even
among a nation doomed to destruction for its inequities, there live persons who
testify to the truth of a Prophet appearing among them by their powers of
reality, recognising the will of Allah. The event is begun with the following
words, "And from the remote part of the country there came a man running
who said, O' my people follow this messenger, "The story of the prophet
Loot as given in Sura Hud, gives an indication to the effect that punishment
for the sin of a nation is averted by the presence of an eminent man of
spritually.
The defernment of such punishment is
out of deference to a spiritual personality living in its midst. The punishment
of Quraish was deferred till the migration of the Holy prophet from Mecca.
Al-Quran lay? down this principle in so many words "Nor is Allah going to
chastise them while you are among them" (8:33). The well known hadith
ascribing to Allah the Words "One who is hostile to my Walli receives an
announcement of War from Me" presents only the counterpart of this idea.
Because if hostility to a Wali excites the wrath of Allah it follows that the
attention and prayers of the Wali can induce the mercy of Allah. Of course the
Wali spoken of are Walis of the eminence like that of Hazrat Ghousul Azam Abdul
Qadir Mohiyuddin.
Miracles are abnormal and
extra-ordinary acts that can only be performed by the privileged few like the
Prophets and Walis of Allah. Perhaps such acts may sound illogical to the
rationalist. But they do occur and are beyond ordinary comprehensive. The
parting of the Red Sea for the Prophet Moosa and such like events are examples.
Even in the life of ordinary mortals, miracles occur, by the mercy of Allah, to
save them from catastrophes or accidents.
The miracles of Hazrat Ghousul Azam
recorded are innumerable, when compared to other Saints. Of these innumerable,
miracles, a few are given below.
After Hazrat Ghousul Azam settled
down in Baghdad remarkable stories about his power circulated in Baghdad. The
day to day increase in the circulation of such stories made a large number of
great scholars of the town to decide to visit him, altogether in other to test
his knowledge by posing one, hundred difficult questions. On their arrival, the
Hazrat foretold them of their purpose and gave each question the correct
answer, even profounding to them explanations beyond the limits of their
comprehension on their own special subjects. This" thought reading was
daily manifested by him. It was not necessary for the visitors who came with
petitions of desires to tell him, for he looked straight at them and gave them
the answers.
On one occasion; two weary and
hungry travellers from Arabia joined his audience unobtrusively. The Hazrat
immediately stopped his discourse saying "Poor travellers; they have just
come a long way and have had practically nothing to eat." He then
described correctly their last meal to the astonishment of all concerned.
One of the most remarkable things we
hear from this Saint's life is that even a man's destiny could be deflected
from conscious life into the dream state. A merchant of Baghdad one day
approached Sheikh Hammad Al-Dabbas for his blessings before taking a caravan to
Syria. Sheikh Hammad forbade him to undertake the proposed journey because he
foresay that the merchant was likely to be robbed and murdered by highway men.
The merchant very much depressed, met Hazrat Ghousul Azam on the way and
informed him what the Sheikh had told him. The Hazrat promised the merchant his
personal responsibility for his safe journey and asked the merchant to proceed.
He reached his destination safely with his goods.
On his journey the merchant forgot
to take back his money kept in the place where he had performed his 'ablution.
On going to bed he was murdered. On waking he saw blood round his neck and also
felt the pain of the blow. However, he realised that what he had seen was a
mere dream, but remembering his lost purse, he went back to the place and
recovered it.
While he was returning to Baghdad he
was confused in his mind to decide whether seeing Sheikh Hammad first would be
proper, as he was the senior Sheikh or seeing Hazrat Ghous first was
appropriate as it was his predictions had proved true. He suddenly saw Sheikh
Hammad. He asked him instead to first go to Hazrat Ghousul Azam by whose
prayers his predistened murder had been changed into a dream and the loss of
property the purse changed into forgetfulness.
One of Hazrat's own servants, who
visited his master complained that he had, in a dream slept with man women.
Upon this, Hazrat said that it was the servant's destiny to sleep with all
those women but this misdeed had been transformed into a dream. Before the
servant began to describe the event, Hazrat gave him a list of the names of all
the women including those he knew and those he did not.
Khalifa AImustanjid Billah once came
to Hazrat and presented him some bags of gold. He refused, the gift but when
the Khalifa begged and pleaded for their acceptance the Hazrat took two bags
and pressed them. Blood seemed to ooze out of them, which was indicative of the
fact that the wealth had been amassed by oppressing people, which was
represented by the blood seen.
On one occasion a Christian
Clergyman came from Yeman and accepted Islam from him in an assembly where he
had delivered a sermon. After his conversion, he voluntarily stood up and
related to the assembly that he was a man of Yeman and had decided to accept
Islam from the hands of the most eminent Muslim in Yeman. He reported that had
seen Prophet Eesa in a dream who directed him to proceed to Baghdad and accept
Islam from Hazrat Abdul Qadir, who was the most eminent at the time in the
whole world.
Once three Faqihs, who came to see
him offered their prayers under his Imamath (leadership). They did not like his
reading of the Quran and formed a low opinion of him. They slept that night and
went to the spring for a bath late at night. A Tiger clung to their clothes and
cought hold of them. The Faqihs became afraid of their lives. The Hazrat at
that moment came out of his closet. The Tiger quietened and crawled (it his
feet. Hazrat sternly looked at the Tiger as if to question why it had
interfered with his guests though they had formed low opinion of himself. The
Faqihs came to him and repented for their conduct and begged his pardon. Hazrat
then addressed his guests remarking that while he had been improving his heart,
they had only been improving their tongue to speak ill of him and slander
people.
Sheikh Shihabuddin Umar Suharwardy
in his youth used to read voraciously books on scholasticism, inspite of the
advice of his uncle to the contrary. Once his uncle took him to Hazrat Ghousul
Azam and informed him that the boy was devoting all his time to scholasticism.
Upon this Hazrat asked Sheikh Shihabuddin what books he had read on the
subject. On getting a reply, he placed his palm on the breast of Sheikh
Shihabuddin. No sooner was the plam removed; he surprisingly forgot all he knew
of scholasticism. But in lieu of it, he felt his mind replaced by the knowledge
of Allah. Sheikh Shihabuddin Umar Suharwardy ultimately became the Imam of the
Suharwardy Order and is the author of the famous book on Sufism named
"Awariful Maarif."
Sheikh Muzzafar bin Mansur said that
in his youth he saw the Hazrat in the company of a large number of persons.
When he sat down with a book on spiritual philosophy, Hazrat without seeing the
book but questioning him said that the book was not a good one for him and
should be discarded. However, be did not like to discard it owing to his love
for the book, but at the same time he neither desired to incur the displeasure
of Hazrat also by retaining that book. So he decided to keep it somewhere else
and tried to get up to do so. But he could not. He felt as if he was planted to
the ground.
Hazrat then asked him to show the
book to him. It was given. Hazrat passed his hand over it and said that the
book was Ibuzari's "Fazil-ul-Quran" and then returned it to him. I
opened it and saw that it was "Fazil-ul-Quran'' but without the chapter on
spiritual subject and philosophy "contained therein earlier. Hazrat asked
him to repent for what had passed through his mind He first repented and then
got up, but found that he could not thereafter remember a single portion of
that book.
A relattion of the Khalifa was once
taken to Hazrat. The man was suffering from dropsy and had an enormously
swollen stomach. He sought relief. Hazrat passed his hands over his stomach,
upon which it contracted to its normal size.
Hazrat Ghousul Azam had spiritual
powers to hasten to the rescue of those who called him in an hour of emergency
or adversity even from afar, such as the hearing of a thundering shout that
rang, to frighten away marauders who tried to molest and loot owners of a
caravan in the desert of Samarakand, who, in their hour of peril, called and
appealed for the aid of the Hazrat.
Sheikh Shihabuddin Suharwardy's
parents were for long childless, until his mother approached him and begged of
him to pray to that she may be blessed with a son. Raising His hands in
supplication he prayed and said that Allah the Beneficient would grant her
wish. He desired the child when born to be named Shihabuddin and predicted that
the child would rise up to be a Sheikh of Sheikhs. In the ceurse of time she
bore a son though she was above the normal age of child bearing.
His powers over the souls of this
disciples extended beyond the grave. One day in Baghdad a man informed him that
his deceased father in a dream had desired him to appeal to him to pray for (he
redemption of his dead father's soul, as he was suffering. Hazrat asked the
visitor "Did your father ever visited my Madrassa?" Yes he answered.
Hazrat remained silent for a while and referred no further on the matter. A few
days latter, the man returned to Hazrat saying that his father appeared to him
in a dream wearing a green robe and had told him that his punishment has been
lifted due to Hazrat Ghousul Azam's prayers.
Abdullah Zayyat once said that one
night Hazrat came out of his closet with a walking stick in his hand. Abdullah
within himself at that moment wished to see Hazrat performing some miraculous
act. No sooner this thought had occured to him, the Hazrat set up his stick on
ground and it became luminous and began to glow. Soon it became so bright that
it illuminated the entire house. He then took up his stick, and looked at
Abdullah and remarked you desired this sort of act. Abdullah was amazed.
A mother brought his son to the
Sheikh to become a murid (follower) A few months later she returned and saw him
looking under nourished. She complained that Hazrat was himself partaking the
delicious dish of chicken daily whereas his poor son had been made to keep up
on dry bread. Hazrat on this complaint picked up the bone of a chicken, by this
bone suddenly transformed into a live cock, which crowed as if to testify that
there is no Allah but Allah. Mohammad is His Prophet "and Sheikh Abdul
Qadir is His Wali". Addressing the terrified woman he commented "when
your son is able to do this, then there will be no reason why he should not eat
the same as I do."
He once asked nearly three hundred
residents of a dewelling place to vacate it immediately. No. sooner these
people vacated, (he building fell to the ground. He had forseen the occurence
and warned them in time.
Sheikh Alt Arabi of Spain had no
children. At the instance of a Mujzub (a mon of distracted mind owing to'
divine attraction) he approached Hazrat Ghousul Azam for his blessings and
prayers for a son. Hazrat said I have one more son yet unborn in my destiny. I
give it to you. Rub your back against mine and name him when born Mohammed
Mohiyuddin. He would rise up to be a Qutub of his time. The child was
eventually born and was named accordingly. He became a great philosopher and
attained high spiritual advancement. He gained the title of Sheikh Akbar and is
commonly known as Ibn-al-Arabi.
During a famine in Baghdah, Abdul
Abbas Ahmed, the servant of Hazrat complained to him of the need for funds and
of food grains. Hazrat gave him a reasonable quantity of wheat and asked him to
store the grain in a covered receptacle and never to weigh it, but to take out
according to necessity, by opening out a small portion of the container. He
used to draw grains in this way for an unusually large period. The wife of the
servant of Hazrat at last felt very much curious about it and in order to
satisfy herself opened the mouth of the container. She surprisingly found
almost *he same quantity of grain as was kept in the beginning, still remaining
and unexhausted.
Once the water in Tigris rose to an
extra ordinary high level on account of an unprecedent flood. The inhabitants
of Baghdad became frightened of the imminent danger. They came to Saiyidina
Hazrat Ghousul Azam and solicited his help. There upon Hazrat went up to the
river side and planting his stick on the river bank said "Remain with in
this limit. The flood then began to recede slowly and came down to the Limit
demarcated by him.
Once a resident of Baghdad
approached Saiyidina Ghousul Azam and stated that his son has been getting
fever for a year and a quarter, and could not shake it off by any means. Hazrat
instructed him to speak into the ears of his son and say '0 fever leave my son
and go to the village of H Allah.' He acted accordingly, and the fever left his
son at once.
It is related on the authority of
Sheikh Adi Bin Musafir that once Hazrat Ghousul Azam was conversing with some
persons assembled to hear his sermon when it began to rain. Hazrat looked upon
the sky and solicited "I call together men for your (Allah's) sake but you
disperse them." As soon as he had uttered this, the clouds disappeared and
rain ceased in the precints of the Madrassa of Hazrat, though it was raining
outside.
Sheikh Osman Sayrifini and Sheikh
Abdul Haq Harimi stated ".We were present before Saiyidina Hazrat Ghousul
Azam in his Madrassa on third Saffar 555 A.H., when Hazrat suddenly got up with
his wooden sandles under his feet and performed ablution. He offered two Rakats
of prayers and with a loud shout, threw one of the sandles into the air. It
disappeared from our sight. With another shout, his Holiness threw the other
sandle into the air, which also disappeared. None present dared questioning him
on the incident.
But thirty days after this incident
a caravan came to Baghdad from Ajam and said that they had brought some
presents for Hazrat. Hazrat permitted the acceptance of the presents of
valuable things but these the same pair of sandles which were thrown in the air
by Hazrat. They related that on the third of Saffar when they were travelling,
suddenly a gang attacked them and plundered their merchandise and murdered some
of them in the caravan. The gang then entered the jungle to divide the booty.
Then they had halted at the outskirts of the jungle and it struck them to
solicit the help of Hazrat Ghousul Azam. Just at that time they had heard two
loud shouts which reverberated throughout the jungle. They had mistaken the
shouts as the aftermath of a scuffle between the gang that attacked us and a
stronger gang of Arabs. We were terror stricken. Some members of the gang came
to us and said that a calamity had befallen them and requested us to take back
the plundered goods. We went to the place where the booty was lying divided and
saw two of their leaders lying dead and the two sandles lying close by.
Sheikh Abdul Hassan commonly known
as Ibn Astantana of Baghdad stated "When I used to live in the Madrassa of
Saiyidina Ghousul Azam for the acquisition of learning, I generally keep awake,
at night in order to serve the Hazrat, if and when required. One night in 553
A.H. Hazrat came out of his room, presuming he required water for ablution, I
took it to him but his holiness did not take it. Instead, he proceeded towards
the gate of the Madrassa. I quietly followed him. The gate automatically opened
and when he passed on, it closed itself. He then went towards the gate of the
city which also similarly opened and closed automatically. Shortly after this
we reached a town, which I had not seen before. On reaching the town he went to
a house which was similar to his own Ribat in appearance. There were six
persons in the house, who saluted him. He proceeded further on and I, stood, by
a pillar. I heard the groaning of a person in a low voice. After a few minutes,
the groaning ceased and another person went to the place whence the groaning
came and carried away a dead body on his shoulder. Shortly after this, another
person bare headed and with long whiskers, came there.
The man sat down in front of Hazrat
who made him recite the declaration of faith used in converting one to Islam.
Hazrat then cut off his whiskers, put a cap on his head and named him Mohammad.
He said that he had appointed him in place of the deceased. The persons
residing in the house accepted the decision submissively. He then left the
place and in a short time came to the gate of Baghdad, which opened and closed
automatically as before. His holiness (hen entered his Madrasa. In the morning
when I resumed taking lesson from Hazrat I prayed him to explain the incident
of the previous night. Whereupon he said that the town I had seen was Nehawand
a distant city in the outskirts of the empire under the Khalif of Baghdad. The
six persons in the Ribat, were Abdul and Nujaba. The man ^ho died was one of
shem. The man with long whiskers was a Christian of Constantinople who accepted
Islam and was appointed by him to fill the place of the deceased. The man who
carried away the corpse was Hazrat Khizar.
It seems desire able here to explain
that according to the Sufis, there exists a sort of hierchy of Saints at all
times in the world through whom Allah manifests His mercy to the world of
humanity. In the absence of the Prophet, they are the vice gerents of Allah on
earth on the Prophet's behalf. They are of three different grades, Abdal is a
plural of Badal meaning literally "substitute", so called because
should any one of these saints die, Allah immediately substitutes him by
another (Sihah). They are righteous persons of whom the world is never
destitute. But on more authoratative view is that they are given this name,
because of their ever changing spiritual condition. They are inaflux; and are
not allowed to remain in one state. Being on their way to Realisation, they are
not allowed to settle down at any intermediate point. As to their exact number
and their locations, opinion, is divided. They seem to be the lowest in rank
amongst the spiritual successors of the Prophet, Ghousul Azam and Qutubs.
According to the best authorities
they are a hirearchy of the saints of a particular generation and are supposed
to be pre-eminently endowed with sanctity and faculties to even perform
miracles. If anybody is a Qutub or a Ghouse, he is recognised as such only by
his agents. Abdals, themselves reveal their position to a. particular person.
The literal meaning of Qutub is axis or pivot, the point upon which a thing
turns, the chief around whom the state of affairs turns. So a Qutub is he,
whose attention and prayers decide the course of events in a particular society
of people? He may be regarded as a kind of spiritual agent in a particular
community.
The literal meaning of Ghouse is
'AID' or 'Succour' in the midst of difficulties. So Ghouse is a kind of
intercessor, who intercedes at a moment when the sins of a nation or humanity
are at the point of being punished. These great men appear to be particularly
tender hearted like the Holy Prophet. Their hearts melt at the woes and
sufferings of humanity and as such become a means to be able to avert Divine
punishment. With the assurance of acceptability of their prayers, their prayers
become a plea for Divine forgiveness and mercy. Hazrat Ghousul Azam has once
said that the Almishty has given him the knowledge of all his murids up to the
end of the world, and His Holiness has proclaimed that none of his murids would
die without repentance, and attain the seventh degree to alude in paradise.
Once he remarked that he would not have the presence
of Allah unless He did not accompany
him and his murids to enter paradise. His Holiness was once questioned as to
the position of a devotee who has regard and love for him, but was not actually
his murid nor wore Khirqa from him. He said that such a person was also his
murid although the real process of his becoming a murid was not complete. Even
a person who had love and reverence for him would not be disappointed by the
graciousness of the Almighty.
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