Rasheed liked to talk and listen to good religious people. He would
visit graveyards frequently and learn lessons from the outcome of
people. He cared nothing for theway he dressed.
Once, when his father was talking with his ministers and officers, the
boy came up to themwearing only two piecesof cloth, one round his
waist and the other on his head. The men looked at him. They did not
like to see a prince dressed this way. They thought it was not right
for a king's son to dress in such a poor manner."This boy is very bad,
he upsets his father. He should dress properly so that the king may be
proud of him when other kings come to see him", they said. When the
king asked his son todress in rich clothes the boy did not answer but
decided to show them a miracle, something he was able to do because of
his intense love for Allah. He looked around and seeing a bird a long
way off, he called it to his side. The bird flew onto the child's
hand. Hethen told the bird to fly away and it did so.
Having shown everyone what he was able to do because he loved Allah
more than anything else,he turned to his father and told him that he
wore shabby clothes because, if he loved Allah, such earthly
thingswere not important and that he was sad because his father seemed
to love the world more than Allah.
Soon, the boy knew it was time to leave his father's court and serve
Allah Alone. He took withhim a copy of the glorious Qur'aan and a
precious ring, which his mother gave him to make use of if he ever
needed any money.
When the prince reached Basrah, he worked as a labourer forone day in
the week andtook only enough money to last him a week. At this time,
Aboo 'Amar Basri (a learned man and a mystic of repute) was looking
for a builder to mend a wall which had fallen down. Suddenly, he saw a
handsome youth busy reciting words from the glorious Qur'aan. He asked
the boy if he would do the job. The boy said, "I will do the job but I
want only a small sum of money to last a week and I must stop working
at the times of Salaah". Aboo 'Amar agreed to this andthe youth
started to work. By the end of the day Aboo 'Amar noticed that the boy
had done the work of ten men. He paid him his wages (minimal, as
requested by the boy). To his surprise, the boy did not come the next
day. As hewas so pleased with his work, Aboo 'Amar set out to look for
him but could not find him until the next week at the same time and in
the same place that he had seen him before. The boy again asked for
the same small sum of money and time off for Salaah, and carried on
building the wall.
At the end of the day, Aboo 'Amar gave the boymore money than he had
asked for, but the boy would not take more than what would last him a
week. Aboo 'Amar waited until the next week for the youth to come for
work. He didnot come and was nowhere to be found. Aboo 'Amar looked
all over for him. He told his story in the following words: "I asked
all and sundry. At last a man toldme that the boy had been ill and lay
unconscious in the forest. I paid a man to take me to him. When I
reached the place, the boy was lying on the ground, resting his headon
a stone. I spoke to him but he did not answer. I greeted him again and
this time he opened his eyes. He recognised me at once. I lifted his
head and put itin my lap. He raised his head and spoke some verses
reminding everyone about death and warned against people who were
greedy for worldly goods. He asked me to bathe him and bury him in one
of his garments, to give the other piece of cloth and his wudhoo cup
to the man who would dig his grave, to take the glorious Qur'aan and
the ring to Haaroon Rasheed personally and to tell him, 'These are
your things. They belonged toyour son. Make sure you do as Allah
wishes.' with that, the boy died. Only then did I realise that the boy
was the prince. Iburied him there as he had asked and took the ring to
the King in Baghdad. I stood on a high mound near the palace and saw a
troop of horsemen riding out from the palace. Nine more battalions
followed. The king himself rode with the tenth troop. When I saw him,
I shouted at the topof my voice. The king stopped and I showed him the
things that his son had left. He recognised them and so I was able to
tell him all Icould about his son. Tears rolled down his cheeks as I
spoke. He ordered one of his guards to look after me until he returned
from his royal visit. When I saw the king again he was very sad
indeed. He asked me how I came to know his son. He was very shocked to
hear that his son, a prince, should wish to work as alabourer and for
enoughmoney to last him only a week. I said that I had not known that
he was the king's son, and a Sayyid, the descendant of the Prophet
Muhammad
The king asked me if I had bathed his son with my own hands. I told
him that I had and he took my hands and pressed them to his heart as
he said some couplets, which showed his great sadness. He also visited
the grave and recited more couplets, which told of the fact that death
must come to everyone."
Later, Aboo 'Amar Basri dreamt of the departed soul of this boy which
told him of his great joy in Paradise where he found happiness
beyondthe realms of human thought or knowledge.
--
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