Prayers & Charity for a Need

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

The following is an example of tawaswswul, as experienced by Imam Abu al-Muzhaffar ‘Awn ad-Din Yahya ibn Hubayrah ash-Shaybani ad-Duri al-Baghdadi al-Hanbali (r.a.), at the maqam of Shaykh Abu Mahfuzh Ma’ruf ibn Firuz al-Karkhi (q.s.). 

Imam Shams ad-Din Abu al-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Khallikan (r.a.), in his biographical dictionary, Wafayat al-‘Ayan wa Anba’ Abna’ az-Zaman, mentioned that Shaykh Shams ad-Din Abu al-Muzhaffar Yusuf ibn Kizughli (r.a.), the grandson of Imam Abu al-Faraj ‘Abd ar-Rahman ibn ‘Ali ibn al-Jawzy (r.a.), related in his work, Mirat az-Zaman, that Shaykh ibn Hubayrah al-Hanbali (r.a.) had given an account of his experience. 

He had said, “I was in such straitened circumstances that, for some days, I remained without food.  One of my family then advised me to visit the tomb of Ma’ruf al-Kharki, and there, ask God’s Assistance, because all prayers offered up at that tomb were Fulfilled.  So I went to the tomb of Ma’ruf, prayed there, and invoked.  I, then, retired with the intention of returning to the town,” referring to Baghdad, “and I passed through Katufta, and there I saw a deserted mosque. 

I went into it, for the sake of saying a prayer of two raka’ah, and saw there, a sick man lying on a mat.  I sat down by his head, and asked him if he desired anything.  He replied, ‘A quince.’  I went to a fruiterer, and got for him two quinces and an apple, for which I left my cloak in pledge.  The man ate part of the quince, and made me shut the door.  When I had done so, he got off the mat, and told me to dig there.  I dug and found a jar.  ‘Take it,’ he said, ‘for you are more deserving of it than any other.’  The jar contained five hundred dananir.”