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Sunday 17 February 2008

The Story of a King and his Beloved

The Story of a King and his Beloved

(I have no link for this, just something found from an old folder of mine)

Once a King went on a hunting trip. Along the way he saw a young slave-girl and fell in love with her. He purchased her from her master and brought her back to the palace with him. (He went out hunting and himself became a victim).

This slave-girl had been in love with the son of a goldsmith of Samarqand. When she came to the palace of the King, she started longing for him and felt so much sorrow at being parted from him, that she started losing weight. She lost so much of her weight and became so weak that she remained only skin and bones. The King himself seeing her suffering came near to death. He thus called many doctors to treat her and promised them various kinds of gifts and positions of honour if they could restore her to good health, saying "Save my life, because if she should die, then just think that I too am dead".

The doctors without saying insha'Allah, promised that very soon they will bring the sick girl back to full health. However, their medication and treatment had the opposite effect upon her.


"When the verdict of sickness comes, the doctors too become fools.
And their medicines as a result, have the opposite effect.
Through destiny, the treatment was causing the sickness to increase
And almond oil caused an increase in dryness".

(In other words, every medicine had the opposite effect).

In the end the doctors had to admit their failure because their claims of providing a cure for her sickness, proved unsuccessful.

"When the King saw the inability of the doctors and their disappointment
He walked towards the masjid with bare-feet.
He went to the masjid, ran towards the mihraab, fell down in prostration
And cried profusely. He wetted his place of prostration with his tears".

He said, crying bitterly:

"O Allah, all this universe is a mere speck of your creation.
What can I say to you? You are aware of all our problems.
Our lack of trust in You and the condition of these doctors who failed to say 'Insha'Allah',
Is insignificant in the face of your bountiful grace.
O You who are our Refuge in times of our needs.
Again we have strayed from the straight path".

When the King awoke he found himself very much happier. The saintly man, whom he had seen in his dream suddenly, appeared in front of him. The King welcomed him with due respect and honour.

When the King awoke he found himself very much happier. The saintly man, whom he had seen in his dream suddenly, apperaed infront of him. The King welcomed him with due respect and honour.

Thereafter, the saint checked the slave-girl's urine and checked her pulse rate. He put his hand on her pulse and mentioned the names of various towns. When he names Samarqand, the pulse rate became faster. He diagnosed from this that the sickness she had was as a result of her love for someone in Samarqand and not what the doctors thought.

"People were unaware of the secrets of the inner self
I seek refuge in Allah from what they fabricate".

When the Skeikh came to know of the secret of the girl's sickness, that she was in love with the son of the goldsmith of Samarqand, the Sheikh ordered the King to call him over, bribing him with wealth. The Sheikh was also a good physician. He gave the young man medicines which caused him to lose his handsome appearance. Then again he was presented before the girl.

When she saw him, her love for him evaporated because his outward form had changed so drastically, that it created an aversion in her for him. The girl was released of her love for him and became well and healthy. Within a few days she completely recovered.

"Because the girl's love was a mere worship of outward form,
Hence through the changing of that form, gradually the love disappeared
And she was healed.
The love that is merely as a result of complexion is not love at all,
It is infact evil and its end result is only shame and disgrace.
For love of a dying one is not lasting
Because the dying are not coming to us but are leaving us.
(So when the beloved passes away, this love also passes away).
Allah, who is Everlasting and free from passing away.
His Love is also more fresh, than a newly-formed rose-bud.
O Seeker, choose the love of the Living One, who remains forever,
And who grants love and knowledge, who gives you to drink of the most animating drink,
And say not in hopeless fashion: How can unfit ones like myself
Ever reach up to that beloved.
For He is a generous one, and for the generous that is not difficult".

(It is not difficult as the Hadeeth teaches us. He who draws near to Me the length of a palm, I draw near to him on yard. In other words, His door is open at all times. Whomsoever wishes may enter and acquire His nearness).

Lesson

Moulana Rumi (r.a) says that this story is applicable to all of us according to our individual conditions. The soul is made a king over our 'nafs', so that the nafs can be made to function in accordance with the will of Allah and thereby enter paradise.

But the nafs which is a servant of the soul is inclined towards the desires of the world. As a result of that it disobeys the soul. Moreover generally the physicians of our environment are incompetent and unable to treat this sickness. For this reason there is a need for a Sheikh (Spiritual Guide) whose carefully prescribed remedy makes sinful worldly pleasures appear ugly in our eyes, so that the 'nafs' may obey the Soul. In other words, the 'nafs' will then find it easy to walk on the path of Divine pleasures.

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1 Comments:

At Tuesday, February 19, 2008 9:57:00 am , Anonymous Anonymous said...

Mahsa'Allah

Keep the posts cuming

 

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