time for a story

December 1, 2007 at 3:57 pm (Islam/Tasawwuf, Special People, Stories)

Sidi Ali Abu’l Hasan al-Shadhuli narrates:

“while traveling in the countryside, night fell and i looked for a shelter, and found a cave. when i entered it and sat down, i began to hear the growling of beasts around me, and this put fear in my heart. then i said to myself, ’I will recite salawat upon the Prophet Muhammad (alayhi salat wa salam), because he promised that whoever recites one salat upon him, Allah Himself in turn sends down 10 blessings upon him, and if i am under the blessing of Allah, then He will protect me’”

and so he spent the night reciting salawat upon his beloved grandfather, the Messenger of Allah (alayhi salat wa salam).

when dawn fell, he came down from the cave to the river to make ablution for the morning prayer, and when he reached the river, next to him was a large shrub in which were nesting many birds. when he splashed the water they became very startled and there was a great rush of fluttering wings around him, and this startled him and caused him to step back.

then a voice inspired him:

“When you were with Us, the growling of beasts did not scare you, but when you were with yourself, the wings of harmless birds scared you”.  

4 Comments

  1. Haaniyah Alina Azam said,

    December 1, 2007 at 7:44 pm

    Asalaamualaykum, what an amazing story…a beautiful reminder…
    Where can I read more? Where’s the excerpt from?

    (Would you mind emailing me at the address given, I also have other questions!)

  2. yaqutalarsh said,

    December 1, 2007 at 8:18 pm

    if you can read arabic, its from a book called Durrat al Asrar wa Tuhfat al Abrar, by Ibn Sabbagh al-Himyari. which is basically a bio of the Shaykh Abul Hasan

    its translated into english with the title “Mystical Teachings of al-Shadhili” but i forgot the author’s name

  4. selena said,

    December 31, 2007 at 3:14 am

    salam, thank you for this piece….would you happen to know whether sh nuh will be in orlando prior to/after the suhba?
    also wondering if you could please contact me at the e-mail address i listed.


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