A Muslim Convert Once More

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Sayyidina ‘Ali ibn Abu Thalib ( k.w. ) came to Baswra, and entered a mosque.   He found storytellers telling stories.   He made them get up until he came to Shaykh Abu Sa’id ibn Abu al-Hasan Yasar al-Baswri ( q.s. ).   He said, “Lad, I will ask you about something, If you answer it, I will let you stay.   Otherwise I will remove you as I removed your companions.”   He saw that he possessed proper behaviour and guidance.   Shaykh al-Hasan al-Baswri ( q.s. ) replied, “Ask whatever you wish.”   Sayyidina ‘Ali ( k.w. ) asked, “What is the basic foundation of the diyn ?”   “Scrupulousness,” he replied.   He asked, “What is the corruption of the diyn ?”   “Greed,” he replied.   Sayyidina ‘Ali ( k.w. ) said, “Sit.   Someone like you can speak to people.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ Shaykh Shahab ad-Din Abu al-‘Abbas Ahmad ibn ‘Umar al-Mursi ( q.s. ) said, “At the beginning of the business, I was in Alexandria and went to someone who knew me.   I bought something I needed from him for half a dirham .   I said to myself, ‘Perhaps he will not take it from me.’   An invisible voice said to me, ‘Safety in the diyn lies in abandoning greed for creatures.’   I also heard him say, ‘Someone with greed will never be full.   Do you not see that all its letters are hollow: ta’ , mim and ‘ayn ?’”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Imam Abu al-Hasan ‘Ali ibn ‘Abdullah ash-Shadzili ( q.s. ) said, “I have despaired of myself benefiting myself, so how should I not despair of other than me benefiting it?   I have hopes of Allah for others besides me, so how can I not have hope for myself?   This is the alchemy and the elixir by which one obtains wealth with no poverty in it and might with no abasement in it and spending which does not run out.   It is the alchemy of the people of understanding of Allah.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Imam Abu Muhammad Sahl ibn ‘Abdullah at-Tustari ( q.s. ) said, “The person who does not love the world is given the like of the reward of the scholars and worshipers together; then, the rest of the believers have the likes of only a portion of what he got.   No one on Resurrection Day will be in a better state than the scrupulous scholar who did not love the world.”

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ   Shaykh Shams ad-Din Muhammad at-Tabriz ( q.s. ) wrote:   “Everyone, sober or drunk, is seeking a beloved, Everywhere, mosque or synagogue, is the house of love.”