Little Hyacinth

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ

Once upon a time, a shaykh requested from his students to bring him some flowers.  All of his students came to the presence of their teacher with various beautiful flowers.  However there was one student, “Yusuf” (q.s.), who came with a wilted hyacinth in his hand.  When his teacher asked him about the wisdom behind his attitude, his answer was, “Whichever flower I tried to pick, I heard that they were occupied by the dzikr and tasbih of Allah (s.w.t.).  My could not bear to cut off their tasbih.  I looked around and saw that this poor hyacinth had come off its stem, so I brought this flower to you.”  Because of this incident, his teacher named him, “Sumbul” which means, “hyacinth”. 

This little boy was Imam Sumbul Yusuf ibn ‘Ali Sinan (q.s.), who passed away in 1529 CE in Istanbul.  He was the murshid and founder of the Sumbuliyyah Sufi order.  Imam Sumbul (q.s.) said, “The heart of the one who forgets the remembrance of Allah (s.w.t.) in the turmoil of the world, hardens.  The one whose heart is hardened does not have any taste from his ‘ibadah.”