On Seeing the Good in People
Mawlana [Abdullah al-Fāiz al-Dāghestāni ق] said there was a wretched man from whom people never felt safe, not with regard to their possessions, not with regard to their lives and not with regard to their reputations for 37 years. At last the man died. People exulted. It was like a festival day for them. When they all gathered to bury him his bier could not be moved and they could not carry him forward from his place. They kept trying but to no avail. It was as if he was stuck to the ground. They said, “What is this ordeal? Alive and dead he is such a weight on us?” The news reached our liege lord ‘Abd al-Khāliq al-Ghujduwāni - Allah sanctify his secret - who came and tried to lift the bier but again it would not move. He asked the villagers, “Who here knows of any good deed that this man did?” They replied, “We never saw anything but affliction from him. Praise to Allāh, he is dead so that we can rest easy!” Then he asked his wife and children. They said he had another wife. They sent for her and when she came the shaykh asked her the same question. She said, “Praise be to Allāh that he died, for I never saw any good coming from him ever!” But he kept asking her with such severity that he reminded her of something in her heart. She felt fear and she said, “He came to me one day and said, ‘Woman, today something happened with me and I am still wondering how such a thing occurred. I was in my usual occupation’ — he was a highway robber — ‘and I saw a man carrying a box. I greeted him, although I never greet anyone nor do I return anyone’s greeting, then I walked with him and I asked him about the box. He said it was honey and that he was going to visit Shaykh ‘Abd al-Khāliq al-Ghujduwānī because he attended the khatm at his place, and after the khatm the Shaykh treats everyone to honey. So I carried the box for him and walked with him a certain distance. I gave it back to him at the parting of the roads and I greeted him, and I regret not taking the box from him, and I am wondering what happened to me.’”
When Shaykh ‘Abd al-Khāliq al-Ghujduwānī heard this he exclaimed, “Glory to Allāh! O my nurturing Lord, this is Your servant, he served me, and You have promised us that whoever rises to serve us will not be shamed, not in this world and not in the next.” At that time they saw the bier moving and rising, and they started walking behind it as it was above their heads and they could not touch it. Thus, with even a small service, there is a promise from Allah that He will not put to shame whoever serves the Awliya and whoever loves them. This man did not know any love but he now have this service to his credit according to this foundation. Our liege lord ‘Abd al-Khāliq al-Ghujduwānī was well-pleased with this service and on the spot it became an answer from Allah. All the people walked behind him. They said, “This is the miraculous gift of al-Ghujduwānī.”
When they entered him into the grave, green leaves came down from the sky. On each of them were written the names of those that were present and on them the promise of Paradise! Whoever got that green leaf on that day rose to bliss. At that time that man’s tongue spoke in clear Arabic: “O my master al-Ghujduwānī, these people all were harmed by me, and this is their witness, but because of a small service done to you, I had a generous gift, and with this generous gift I asked my nurturing Lord to grant bliss to all that had been harmed by me. My nurturing Lord told me to make this request and then He granted it!”
What a matter, something wondrous. It is not known how He will grant mercy to his servant or how He will lavish generosity on him. Why did we retell this? Because we do not know that Allāh has put goodness into every servant…
Translated from the Arabic by Shaykh Gibril Fouad Haddad ﵀