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Sufi
Biography: Abd Allah
ibn al-Mobarak
Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman
‘Abd Allah ibn al-Mobarak al-Hanzali al-Marwazi, born in 118 (736) of a
Turkish father and a Persian mother, was a noted authority on Traditions
and a famous ascetic. He studied under many teachers in Merv and
elsewhere, and became erudite in many branches of learning, including
grammar and literature.
A wealthy merchant
who distributed much in alms to the poor, he died at Hit on the
Euphrates in 181 (797). He composed many works on Traditions, and one of
these, on the theme of asceticism, has survived.
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The conversion of Abd Allah-e Mobarak
The circumstances of Abd Allah-e Mobarak’s conversion were as
follows. He became infatuated with a girl,
so much so that he could not rest. One night during the winter
he stood beneath
the wall of his beloved’s apartment until morning, waiting to
catch a glimpse of her. All night it snowed.
When the call to prayer sounded, he supposed that it was for the
prayer before sleeping. Seeing the daybreak,
he realized that he had been absorbed all night in his longing
for his beloved. |
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“Shame on you, son of
Mobarak!” he cried. “On such a blessed night you stood on your feet till
morning
because of your private passion, yet if the imam is over long in
reciting a Sura during prayer you are quite
frantic.”
Anguish gripped his heart forthwith, and he repented and devoted himself
busily to worship. So complete
was his devotion, that one day his mother, entering the garden, saw him
sleeping under a rosebush whilst a
snake with a narcissus in its mouth was driving flies away from him.
After that he set forth from Merv and stayed for a time in Baghdad,
associating with the Sufi masters
there. Then he proceeded to Mecca where he resided for a space, after
which he returned to Merv. The people
of Merv welcomed him back warmly, and set up classes and study-groups.
At that time half of the people
were followers of Traditions and half devoted themselves to
jurisprudence. So today Abd Allah is
known as “the Approved of the Two Sects” because he was in accord with
each, and both claimed him as their
own. Abd Allah founded two colleges in Merv, one for traditionists and
the other for jurisprudents. He then
left for Hejaz, and took up residence in Mecca again. In alternate years
he would perform the pilgrimage,
and go out to the wars, and a third year he would engage in commerce.
The profits of his trading he
divided among his followers. He used to give dates to the poor, and
count the date-stones; whoever ate more
dates, he would offer a dirham for every stone. So scrupulous was he in
his piety, that on one occasion
he had alighted at an inn. Now he had a valuable horse; he proceeded to
prayer. Meanwhile his horse
wandered into a field of wheat. He abandoned his horse there and
proceeded on foot, saying, “He has
devoured the crop of the authorities.” On another occasion he made the
journey all the way from Merv to
Damascus to return a pen which he had borrowed and forgotten to give
back.
One day as he was passing through a certain place they informed a blind
man living there that Abd Allah
was coming. “Ask of him all that you require.”
“Stop, Abd Allah,” the blind man called. Abd Allah halted.
“Pray to God to restore my sight,” the man begged.
Abd Allah lowered his head and prayed. At once the man saw again.
Abd Allah-e Mobarak and Ali ibn al-Mowaffaq
Abd Allah was living at Mecca. One year, having completed the rites of
the pilgrimage, he fell asleep. In a
dream he saw two angels descend from heaven. “How many have come this
year?” one asked the
other. “Six hundred thousand,” the other replied.
“How many have had their pilgrimage accepted?”
“Not one.”
“When I heard this,” Abd Allah reports, “I was filled with trembling.
‘What?’ I cried. ‘All these people have
come from afar out of the distant ends of the earth and with great pain
and weariness from every deep ravine,
traversing wide deserts, and all their labour is in vain?’
‘There is a cobbler in Damascus called Ali ibn
Mowaffaq,’ said the angel. ‘He has not come on the pilgrimage , but his
pilgrimage is accepted and all his
sins have been forgiven.’
“When I heard this,” Abd Allah continued, “I awoke
saying, ‘I must go to Damascus and visit that person.’
So I went to Damascus and looked for where he lived. I shouted, and
someone came out. ‘What is your
name?’ I asked. ‘Ali ibn Mowaffaq,’ he replied. ‘I wish to speak with
you,’ I said. ‘Say on,’ he replied. ‘What
work do you do?’ ‘I cobble.’ I then told him of my dream. ‘What is your
name?’ he enquired when I had
done. ‘Abd Allah-e Mobarak,’ I replied. He uttered a cry and fell in a
faint. When he recovered I said to him,
‘Tell me your story.’
“The man told me, ‘For thirty years now I have longed to make the
pilgrimage. I had saved up three
hundred and fifty dirhams from my cobbling. This year I had resolved to
go to Mecca. One day the good lady
within becoming pregnant, she smelt the smell of food coming from next
door. “Go and fetch me a bit of that
food,” she begged me. I went and knocked on the neighbour’s door and
explained the situation. My
neighbour burst into tears. “My children have eaten nothing for three
days together,” she said. “Today I
saw a donkey lying dead, so I hacked off a piece and cooked it. It would
not be lawful food for you.” My
heart burned within me when I heard her tale. I took out the three
hundred and fifty dirhams and gave them
to her. “Spend these on the children,” I said. “This is my pilgrimage.”
‘
“The angel spoke truly in my dream,” Abd Allah declared, “and the
Heavenly King was true in His judgment.”
Abd Allah-e Mobarak and his slave
Abd Allah had a slave. A man told him, “That slave of yours plunders the
dead and gives you the proceeds.”
This information distressed Abd Allah. One night he followed on his
slave’s heels. He went to a cemetery
and opened a grave. In the grave was a prayer-niche, where the slave
stood at prayer. Abd Allah, who had
watched all this from a distance, crept nearer. He saw that the slave
was clothed in sackcloth and had put a
collar round his neck. Rubbing his face in the earth, he was wailing.
Observing this, Abd Allah crept away
weeping and sat apart in a corner.
The slave remained in that place until dawn. Then he came up and covered
over the grav
e, and proceeded to the mosque and said his morning prayers.
“My God,” he cried, “day has returned. My temporal lord will ask me for
money. Thou art the riches of
the bankrupt. Give Thou to me from whence Thou knowest.”
Immediately a light shone out of the sky, and a silver dirham dropped
into the slave’s hand. Abd Allah could
not bear to watch any more. He rose up and took the head of the slave
into his bosom and kissed him.
“A thousand lives be the ransom of such a slave!” he exclaimed. “You
were the master, not I.”
“O God,” cried the slave, perceiving what had happened, “now that my
veil has been stripped away and
my secret is revealed, no more repose remains for me in this world. I
implore Thee by Thy might and glory, suffer
me not to be a cause of stumbling. Take away my soul.”
His head was still lying in Abd Allah’s bosom when he expired. Abd Allah
laid him out and wrapped him
in a winding-sheet, then he buried him in that same sackcloth in the
selfsame grave.
That night Abd Allah saw the Master of the World in a dream, and the
Friend of God Abraham with him,
each come down riding a heavenly horse. “Abd Allah,” they said, “why did
you bury our
friend in sackcloth?”
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