Few great stories on Allah's forgivness

وَكُنِ اللّهُمَّ بِعِزَّتِكَ لي في كُلِّ الاَْحْوالِ رَؤوفاً وَعَلَيَّ في جَميعِ الاُْمُورِ عَطُوفاً

And by Your Might, O Allah! Be kind to me in all states and be gracious to me in all affairs!

No one in the world can describe Allah’s kindness, however knowledgeable he or she may be. But His kindness can be understood from pondering in Qur’¡nic verses and the traditions of the Prophet’s Household (a.s). The easiest way for recognizing the Mercy of the Almighty is paying attention to the instances in which His Mercy has materialized.

It is narrated form the Prophet of Islam (s.a): I asked some requests from Allah, one of them was: “O Allah! Leave my nation’s deeds to me to account for them.” I was then addressed: “Though you are the Prophet of kindness, but you are not the most Merciful. If you are informed of some of the sins of your people, you would hate them; let only Me know about their sins.

O Mu¦ammad! I would account for them in such a way that no one would get informed of their sins, not even you. So when I hide their sins from you, who are the manifestation of kindness, I would certainly hide their sins from others too.

O Mu¦ammad! If you have a prophethood kindness to them, I have a Godly Mercy to them. You are their prophet, while I am their Lord. If you are with them today, I have been kind to them from the very beginning and will be so until eternity.

The Sinner and Allah’s Forgiveness

Shaykh Bah¡’¢ says: A reliable man told me about a sinner who died and his wife asked help from people to wash, shroud, and bury his body. But they hated the dead sinner man so much that no one cooperated with his wife. Hence she had to hire someone to bring him to the city’s public prayer place so that the believers might help hold the ritual there. But still no one attended! So she had the hired man take the dead body to the desert and bury it without washing and shrouding.

There was a mountain near that desert in which a pious man lived. He had spent all his life in worshipping Allah and the people living there knew him for his piety. As soon as he saw the sinner man’s body, he went to attend his burial ritual. When the neighboring people heard it, they rushed to accompany the pious man too.

People asked the pious man why he has attended the sinner’s ritual. He answered: “In my dream, I was told to come to this cite of the desert where a single woman accompanies a dead body, and pray for it, since he is forgiven.”

Everyone was astonished at this happening. The pious man called the sinner’s wife and asked about his husband. She answered: “Most of the days he was engaged in one sin or the other.” The pious asked her again: “Had you seen any good deeds from him?” She replied: “I saw three good deeds from him; first that everyday after committing sin, he changed clothes, and began praying humbly, second that his home was never void of orphans and he was more kind to them than to his own children, and third whenever he got up at night, he cried and said: O Allah! Where in the Hell will you place this sinner?!”

The Servant of `Abdull¡h al-Mub¡rak

Attar Naysh¡b£r¢ says: `Abdull¡h Mub¡rak had a servant and had promised to set him free if he could work and pay back as much as his price. One day someone told `Abdull¡h: “Your servant opens the graves at night, steals the dead bodies’ shrouds to sell them and pays you!” `Abdull¡h was very upset at hearing this. One night, he secretly followed the servant to the cemetery where he entered a grave, put on an old clothes and a chain around his neck, placed his face on the ground, and began supplicating and crying.

Seeing this, `Abdull¡h was hided in a corner and began weeping silently. The servant continued worshipping until the dawn. Then he exited the grave and went toward the city. He entered the first mosque he saw for the Morning Prayer. After his prayer, he said: “My true Lord! Another night finished and my master asks me for Drachmas now. O Allah! You are the Provider of the poor and the Supplier of the unfortunate.” At that time, a heavenly light appeared out of which a gold Drachma was put in the servant’s hand. Observing this, `Abdull¡h was greatly astonished, went toward the servant, embraced him and said: “May Allah sacrifice me for you! I wish you were my master and I were your servant!” The servant said: “O Allah! No one knew this secret of mine. Now that it is revealed, I don’t want to be alive anymore; take me to Yourself!” So he passed away in `Abdull¡h’s hands. `Abdull¡h buried him in the same old clothes. That night, he dreamed of the Messenger of Allah (s.a) and prophet Abraham, who were coming to him on a horse, and told him: “Why did you bury our friend in old clothes?!”

In fact, the Almighty has Mercy on His servants in all states and in different forms, especially in the state of supplication and prayer.

إِلهي وَرَبّي مَنْ لي غَيْرُكَ أَسْأَلُهُ كَشْفَ ضُرّي وَالنَّظَرَ في أَمْري

My Allah and My Lord! Have I any but You from whom to ask remedy of my affliction and regard for my affairs?

My Lord and My Allah! Do I have any source of blessing and mercy, but You? I ask You the remedy of my affliction and bad state, and attention to my life affairs.

My Lord! Someone can alleviate my misery Who is powerful in every aspect, does not deprive Me of his mercy, is not mean, and no one has the power to keep His mercy away from me. The One Who has all these perfection attributes and is away from any fault, is You.

If I seek refuge to anyone except You for the remedy of my affliction and ask him my request, he would not be kind to me, would not be able to solve my problem, would be mean in fulfilling my wish, or Your Will would hinder his relationship with me. Therefore he cannot do anything for me. Hence I should be undependable on Your creatures and wholly rely on You. I should be hopeless of all beings, like my relatives and fiends and ask my requests only from You. I should humbly ask You the remedy of my afflictions, difficulties, bad states and vices. I should ask You to save me from calamities, harms, and mental and spiritual illnesses.

As if one is drowning in the middle of the sea, with no relations and dependence on anyone, he should always have hope only in Allah’s Mercy, and beseech to Him, so that his prayer would be fulfilled, without any worldly reliance. As the Almighty told Jesus (a.s):

يَا عِيسَي، اُدْعُنِى دُعَاءَ الْغَرِيقِ الْحَزِينِ الَّذِى لَيْسَ لَهُ مُغِيثٌ.

O Jesus! Call me like the calling of one who has no supporter when being drowned![1]

Imam Sadiq (a.s) said:

إذَا أرَادَ أحَدُكُمْ أنْ لاَ يَسْألَ رَبَّهُ شَيْئاً إلاّ أعْطَاهُ فَلْيَيْأسْ مِنَ النَّاسِ كُلِّهِمْ وَلاَ يَكُونَ لَهُ رَجَاءٌ إلاَّ عِنْدَ اللهِ، فَإذَا عَلِمَ اللهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ ذَلِكَ مِنْ قَلْبِهِ لَمْ يَسْألِ اللهَ شَيْئاً إلاّ أعْطَاهُ.

Whenever one of you wishes to gain whatever he wants of Allah, he should be hopeless of all the people and just be hopeful of the Almighty. When Allah sees such reliance in His servant’s heart, He will grant whatever the servant wants from Him.[2]

The one who says ‘O Allah! My Lord!’ deserves to be free from all reliance, except on the true Creator. Such a person should observe the world, and its wealth, position, passion, and material things as a blessing and a tool granted by Allah for having a sound worldly life and a prosperous Hereafter. Thus he should not consider these worldly matters as his master; for anyone who accepts others besides Allah, is a polytheist and polytheists’ prayers would never be accepted.

The one who says ‘O my Creator!’ should be free from the sovereignty of other false masters and pharaohs and their traditions. Because if he is dependent upon false masters and follows their traditions, his prayer would not be accepted, even if he faces many hardships.

One should get hopeless of all creatures, which cannot help him a bit, except by Allah’s will. In this case, he would be wholly dependent on Allah, and feel no shortage.

The lovers of Allah who had sufficient knowledge about Him and His creatures and knew well that Allah’s creatures can do nothing to solve their problems, were always in a state of joyfulness and satisfaction toward their Lord, considering Him as the sole problem solver and saying wholeheartedly: ‘My Allah and My Lord’ like prophet Moses (a.s) who stated: ‘My Lord! I have something in my poorness which is not in all Your resources.’ Then Allah addressed him: ‘What do you have?’ He answered: ‘I have a Lord like You!’[3]

When one cuts his relationship ties with everyone and pays attention only to Allah, He would have mercy on him, grant him blessings, solve his problems, and have regard for all his affairs. In this case, the servant would be accepted before the Almighty and would be subject to His Benevolence, despite his many sins.

The Tale of the Mother and the Child

An ascetic scholar narrates that a mother expelled his disobedient disorderly adolescent son from home and told him: “Get out! You are not my child anymore.” He went out and played with other children until the sunset when all of them returned to their homes. When he saw himself alone without a friend, he returned home too and saw the door closed. So he put his head on the door, cried and called his mother to open the door for him, but the mother refused to do so. Meanwhile a pious scholar who was passing there showed pity for the son, knocked at the door, and asked his mother to allow him to come home again. The mother said: “I accept your meditation provided that you write something so that whenever my son disobeyed again, he get out of home and do not call me his mother anymore.” The scholar wrote the same thing and gave it to the young boy’s mother, hence they reconciled again.

A while later, that scholar passed the same house and saw the young boy weeping again and telling his mother: “Do whatever you want, but don’t leave me alone!” But the mother did not accept. The pious man waited to see what happens next. He saw the boy weeping continuously until he fainted from sorrow. The mother who was looking at her child got upset, opened the door, and embraced him, saying: “O the fruit of my eyes! Come to home with me! If I refused to let you in, I was not serious, but I wanted to prevent you from disobedience and wrongdoing.”

Likewise, if a sinner feels his repentance and weeping is not accepted, he should not get hopeless; rather he should ask Allah repeatedly, like that young boy so that he would get subject to Allah’s mercy and forgiveness. And if Allah has regard for human affairs, his affairs would become organized, his problems solved, and his poorness elevated, because Allah’s regard, mercy and blessing are infinite.

The Healing Regard

The biography of the king, Mahmud Ghaznawi, reads: One day he passed the seashore and saw a sorrowful youngster who had spread his net for fishing.

The king asked the young man the reason for his sadness. He replied: “My seven brothers and I are poor orphans and have an elderly mother. After my father’s death, I have been responsible for making a living for my family. But everyday I can catch only one or two fish, which is not sufficient for the expenses of my big family.” The king told him: “Would you like me to help you with the fishing today?” The young man accepted. So the king said again: “Pull out the net in the name of your coworker this time.” The young man waited for a while and then took the ropes of the net to pull it out, but he couldn’t, so the king and his servants helped him pull it out. When it was pulled out of the water there were many fish in it.

After returning to the palace, the king sent someone to bring his coworker to him and placed him beside himself, behaving kindly toward him. Everyone said: “This is a poor man whose place is not beside you.” But the king answered: “He is my coworker anyway and should benefit from whatever I possess.”

In other words, when the regard of a worldly king improves someone’s life to this extent and alleviates his troubles, how influential is the regard of a True King, whose perfection is infinite and whose mercy is countless, to a poor destitute human, who has turned to Him for his material and spiritual shortages!

Allah’s regard, out of His mercy, is a regard that saved Noah (a.s) and the believers from the horrible storm, turned Moses’ (a.s) staff into a dragon to oppose Pharaoh’s tyranny, rescued the Israelites from among the Nile’s turbulent waves, saved Job (a.s) from his many calamities, and released Josef (a.s) from the deepness of the dark well, brining him to the kingdom of Egypt.

The Amazing Story of °¡tam al-A¥amm

°¡tam al-A¥amm was among the pious men of his age, but despite his good reputation and authority he had among people, he could hardly make the ends meet. However he had a strong belief in and reliance on the Almighty.

One night, while talking with his friends, they spoke about Hajj, the Kaaba pilgrimage. So °¡tam heartily desired to make pilgrimage to Kaaba, the place where Allah’s prophets (a.s) had humbly worshipped Him.

When °¡tam returned home, he told his wife and children: “If you allow me to go to Mecca, I will pray for you there.” His wife said: “How do you dare going to pilgrimage while you are well aware of our poorness? This pilgrimage is obligatory only for those who are wealthy.” His children confirmed their mother’s words, except his little girl who said sweetly: “What is wrong with going to this pilgrimage? Let my father go anywhere he wishes, our Provider is Allah, and father is only a mediator for our sustenance. The Almighty can grant us our sustenance through other means, if He wills.” Everyone got aware of the fact in the clever girl’s words and allowed °¡tam to go to Kaaba pilgrimage and pray for them.

°¡tam became very happy, prepared the necessary means for his travel, and joined the pilgrimage caravan. Being informed of the little girl’s words and °¡tam’s travel, their neighbors came and reproached her, saying that this travel lasted for months and they could not make a living in their father’s absence. °¡tam’s family reprimanded the girl too for not keeping her tongue, which had forced them to allow °¡tam to depart.

The little girl was so upset that she burst into tears and at the same time she sincerely raised her hands to the sky and called her Lord: “O Lord! They have always benefited from Your mercy and Blessings and got used to it. Do not despair them and do not make me ashamed!”

While °¡tam’s family were wondering how they are going to make a living, the ruler of the city, who was returning from hunting thirstily, sent some people to their house to bring him some water.

The ruler’s servants knocked at their door and asked for some water for the thirsty ruler. °¡tam’s wife looked up to the sky, astonished, and said: “O Lord! We slept last night without any supper and today the ruler is in need of us!” Then she poured water in a bowl and apologized for the pottery bowl.

The commander asked his disciples: “Whose house is this?” They said: “It’s °¡tam al-A¥amm’s, who is a pious man. He has gone to pilgrimage and his family is living in a difficult condition.” The ruler said: “We have taken them into trouble asking for water. It is far from generosity for us to take such poor needy people into trouble.” Then he unfastened his golden belt and threw it into °¡tam’s house and told his followers: “Throw your belts into this house if you like me.” All his followers did so. When they wanted to come back, °¡tam told that family: “Allah’s praise on you! Now my minister takes the belts and pays you for them.” Soon the minister brought the price of the belts for °¡tam’s wife and took the belts back!

Seeing this, the little girl began weeping. Everyone told her: “You should be laughing now not crying, because the merciful Allah has shown us a ray of His mercy by improving our life this way.” The girl said: “I am crying because last night we slept hungrily and today a creature of Allah’s had regard for us and enriched us. So how enriching will be Allah’s regard for a servant!” Then she prayed this way: “O Lord! Just as You had mercy toward us and arranged our life, have regard for our father and help him!”

°¡tam, on the other hand, was going toward Mecca with the caravan while there was no one poorer than him. He had neither a horse to ride nor enough food to travel easily, but the people of the caravan who knew him helped him a little.

One night, Amir al-Hajj[4] got so seriously ill that the caravan’s doctor could not do anything for him. Amir said: “Is there any pious man in this caravan to pray for me, so that I will be healed?” He was informed of °¡tam al-A¥amm. So Amir ordered to bring him soon. The servants rushed and took him to Amir. °¡tam said hello and began praying for Amir’s healing beside him. Because of °¡tam’s prayer, Allah had regard for Amir and healed him. Therefore Amir showed special attention for °¡tam; he ordered to give °¡tam a horse and paid for all his expenses until the end of the travel.

°¡tam appreciated Amir. Then °¡tam prayed and talked with Allah in a special mood. When he went to sleep that night, he heard in his dream: “O °¡tam! One who has reliance on Me and organizes his affairs by praying to Me, I would show Mercy to him. Do not worry about your family; I provided their sustenance too.” After getting up, °¡tam praised Allah and was astonished at the enormity of His regard.

When °¡tam returned from Hajj pilgrimage, his family welcomed him joyfully. °¡tam attended to them all, but showed special attention to his little girl, hugged and kissed her, and said: “Some people might apparently be small, but they are great in reality. Allah does not attend to the great ones in terms of age and reputation, but to those who have a greater appreciation of Him. So I invite you to know Allah and rely on Him, because anyone who has reliance on Him would not be left alone by Him.”[5]

The Influential Regard

The great scholar, Sayyid Ja’far Mazari’i, has narrated: A cleric of the great seminary in Najaf could make the ends meet with difficulty. One day, he addressed Imam `Al¢ (a.s) in his holy shrine and said: “How do you have such expensive candelabrums in your shrine, while I am so needy?!”

The poor cleric dreamed Imam `Al¢ (a.s) on the same night, who told him: “If you want to live in Najaf, beside my shrine, there would only be this poor life for you. But if you like a wealthy luxurious life, you should move to Hiydar Abad, India to a specific person’s house, and tell him: ‘به آسمان رود و کار آفتاب کند’[6] “After seeing this dream, the poor cleric went to the shrine again and complained: “My life is difficult here in my hometown. How can I move to India?” But he dreamed Imam (a.s) again who told him: “Your solution is what I told you. If you cannot tolerate such condition beside my shrine, you should go to India, to the house of that famous man and tell him: ‘به آسمان رود و کار آفتاب کند’.” After getting up the next morning, the cleric sold all his books and the little furniture he had and went toward India with the help of some generous people. In Hiydar Abad, India, he asked for the house of that person. The Indians were surprised that an ordinary poor cleric is asking about a wealthy man and wants to meet him.

When the cleric reached the rich man’s house, he knocked and the door was opened for him. Then he saw someone coming down the stairs of the mansion and told him: ‘به آسمان رود و کار آفتاب کند’

The rich man immediately called his servant and ordered them to take the cleric inside the house to take a bath, have a rest and change his clothes with luxurious ones.

So the cleric was warmly welcomed and treated until the next evening. On the next day, the city’s noble ones from various social classes, like the scholars, businessmen, and the rich came to visit him in a splendid hall. The surprised cleric asked someone beside himself: “What is going on here?” “It is the marriage ceremony of the host’s daughter.” So the cleric thought to himself he has entered the host’s house on a good day.

When everything was prepared for the ceremony, the wealthy host came to the hall. Everyone stood up for honoring him and he sat in his own place after complimenting the guests. Then he addressed his guests and said: “I grant half of my whole wealth, including a definite sum of money, houses, lands, gardens, cattle, and furniture to this newly arrived cleric from Najaf. You all know that I have only two daughters. I accept him as the husband of my prettier daughter too. You religious scholars should now read their marriage sermon.” When the marriage sermon was read, the overwhelmed cleric asked the rich man the reason for all those happenings.

The affluent man said: “Some years ago, I intended to compose a panegyric poem for Imam `Al¢ (a.s). I could compose one line of a verse, but did not succeed in composing the other line. I went to the Persian poets of India and asked them to compose the second line of this verse, but their composed line was not pleasant enough. I did not like the composed line of Iranian poets either. So I thought my verse has not attracted the influential regard of Imam (a.s). Then I solemnly vowed to grant half my wealth as well as my prettier daughter to anyone who can make the other line of my poem. When you came and told me the line, I found out that it is very complete and suitable for my line.” The cleric asked him: “What was the first line?” The man answered: “به ذره نظر لطف گر بوتراب کند”[7]

The cleric said: “The second line is not from me, but from Imam (a.s).” So the rich man prostrated humbly and thanked Allah and then recited:

به ذره نظر لطف گر بوتراب کند به آسمان رود و کار آفتاب کند

When the influential regard of Imam `Al¢ (a.s) enriches a poor needy person this much, what would be the influence of Allah’s regard for His servant?