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PATIENCE AND THE COURAGE OF CONVICTION

31

“Among the people of long ago, there was a king who had a magician. He (the magician) was getting old and said to the king: 'I am old, bring me a young man to whom I can teach my magic.' So, the king sent him a young man to teach. On the young man's way to the magician he met a monk. The young man sat and listened to him and was so happy with what he heard that he would stay a while with him which made him late for his lesson, so the magician beat him.

The young man complained to the monk who told him, ‘When you are afraid of the magician, tell him, 'My people detained me, and when you are afraid of your people tell them the monk detained you.'

This state of affairs continued until one day the young man came across a huge beast blocking the road. It blocked the road in a manner no one could pass. The young man thought to himself, 'Now I can find out who is the superior, the magician or the monk.' So he picked up a stone and said, 'Lord, if the way of the monk is more pleasing to You than the way of the magician, cause the beast to die so that the people can pass.' Then he threw the stone at the beast and killed it and the people passed by.

The young man told the monk what had happened and he said, ‘Son, you have surpassed me, and I think that you have reached the stage where you might be harmed. Should this happen, do not disclose my whereabouts.’

The young man began to cure people (by the permission of Allah) of blindness and leprosy and all manner of diseases. News of the miracles reached a blind courtier of the king, so he went to the young man with many gifts saying, ‘All this will be yours if you can heal me.’ The young man replied: ‘I cannot help anyone. It is Allah who heals. If you bear witness to your belief in Allah, I will pray for you and He will heal you.’ So the blind man believed in Allah and Allah cured him of his blindness.

After his sight had been restored, he (the courtier) went to the king and sat with him as was his practice. The king asked, ‘Who has restored your sight?’ The man answered, ‘My Lord.’ The king asked, ‘Have you a Lord other than me?’ To this he replied, ‘Allah is your Lord and my Lord.’ Upon hearing this, the king ordered the man to be seized and tortured until he disclosed the name of the young man.

The young man was brought before the king and the king said to him, ‘Son, have you become so skilled in magic that you can heal the blind, lepers and other diseases?’ The young man replied, ‘I do not heal anyone, it is Allah who heals.’ Then he too was seized and tortured until he revealed the whereabouts of the monk who was likewise summoned and ordered to recant his faith but he refused.

The king sent for a saw which was placed upon the monk's head, and he was sawn in half. Then, the king's courtier was sent for and he also was ordered to recant his faith. He too refused, so he was also sawn in half.

After this, the young man was brought forward and told to recant, but like the others he refused, so the king handed him over to his men and told them, ‘Take him to such and such a mountain, if he still refuses to recant his faith, throw him from the top!’

The king's men took him to the mountain and climbed to the top of it. There, the young man supplicated saying, ‘Lord, deliver me from them in whatever way You will.’ Whereupon the mountain shook and the men fell off.

The young man returned to the king who asked, 'What has happened to your companions?’ He (the young man) answered, ‘Allah has saved me from them.’ So, he was handed over to another group of men who were told to take him out in a big ship into the middle of the sea, and if he still persisted in his refusal to abandon his faith to throw him into the sea. The king's men took him and he supplicated once again saying, ‘Allah, save me from these people in whatever manner You will.’ Then the boat sank and they were drowned, except the young man who returned to the king. The king asked, ‘What has happened to your companions?’ He replied, ‘Allah has saved me from them’ and added, ‘you will be unable to kill me unless you do as I tell you.’ The king asked, ‘How is that?’ The young man answered, ‘Gather the people together in an open area and hang me from the trunk of a palm-tree. Then, take an arrow from my quiver, place it in the middle of a bow and say, 'In the Name of Allah, the Lord of this young man,' and shoot it at me, if you do this, you will kill me.’

The king did just that. The people were assembled in an open area and the young man was hanged from the trunk of a palm-tree. The king took an arrow from his quiver, placed it in the middle of the bow and said, 'In the Name of Allah, the Lord of this young man,' and fired it. The arrow struck the young man in the middle of his forehead, who raised his hand to his forehead and died. Upon seeing this the people declared, ‘We believe in the Lord of this young man,’ and the king was told, ‘Look, that which you feared has happened, the people have believed!’ The king ordered trenches to be dug either side of the road. After they had been dug a fire was lit in them and it was proclaimed that anyone who refused to abandon their faith would be thrown into the trenches, or, would be ordered to jump in. And so it continued, until it was the turn of a lady accompanied by her son. She hesitated to be thrown into the fire, but her son encouraged her saying, ‘Mother, be patient, you are on the Right Path.’"

Muslim with a chain up to Suhaib who related that the Prophet, praise and peace be upon him, said this.