Some incidents of Hadhrat Khwaja Abul Hasan Khirqani (May Allah be well pleased with him)

 

 

Some incidents of Hadhrat Khwaja Abul Hasan Khirqani

(May Allah shower His Mercy on him)

 
Once, Khwaja Abul Hasan Khirqani (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) and along with him, many of his fellow Sufis didn’t find anything to eat for 7 days at a stretch.  Then a person brought wheat and mutton and announced:  I have brought this for Sufis.  The Khwaja said:  The one who is a Sufi may take it.  I don’t have the courage to declare myself a Sufi.  Eventually, no one came forward to take it and that man took those things away.

 
Once, a man came to the Khwaja and said:  Please clothe me with your robe.  The Khwaja said:  First answer a question of mine.  If a woman wears masculine clothes, will she become a man?  That man said:  No.

 

The Khwaja said:  Then what is the use of wearing the robe?  If you are not a man (of Allah Most High), then wearing the robe will not make you one.

A person requested the Khwaja:  You please permit me to call people to Almighty Allah.  The Khwaja said:  Beware!  Call people to Allah, not to yourself.  That man asked:  What is to call people to myself?  The Khwaja said:  What it means is that if someone else is also calling people to Allah and you dislike it, then it is a sign that you are calling people to yourself.

Once, Hadhrat ‘Abdullah Daastaani (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) came to the Khwaja.  He placed a tray of water before the Khwaja.  Then he put his hand into it, extracted a live fish from the water and placed it before the Khwaja.

 

The Khwaja looked around and saw an oven.  The Khwaja put his hand inside the fiery hot oven, took out a live fish from it and placed before Hadhrat Abdullah Daastaani (May Allah shower His Mercy on him).  He then said:  Taking out a fish from water is easy.  You should extract a fish from fire.

 

On this, Hadhrat Abdullah Daastaani (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) said:  Come!  Let us jump into it and see who comes out alive?  The Khwaja said:  Come let us jump into our own selves and see who comes out along with the Lord Almighty.  Hadhrat ‘Abdullah became silent on this.

Once, a disciple asked permission from the Khwaja to go to Lebanon and meet the Qutb-e-A’alam (Lit. The pole of the world, the greatest saint of the era).  The Khwaja permitted him to go.

 

When that disciple reached Lebanon, he saw that people have a bier before them and are quietly standing.  He asked them:  Why don’t you offer the Funeral Salaat?  They said:  We are waiting for the Qutb-e-A’alam to come.  He leads the 5 daily Salaat here.  The disciple became happy on hearing this.

 

After some time, the Khwaja came and led the Salaat.  The disciple was struck with such terror on seeing him that he lost consciousness.  When he came round, the Khwaja had gone away.  He asked the people:  Who was that person?  They said:  He is Hadhrat Khwaja Abul Hasan Khirqani (May Allah shower His Mercy on him).  He asked:  When will he come again?  They said:  He will come at the time of the next Salaat.

 

Thus, the Khwaja came and led the next Salaat as well.  After the Salaat, the disciple clutched his robes and started crying.  He said:  I am highly regretful.  You please take me to Khirqan along with you.  The Khwaja said:  I will take you with me on the condition that you don’t reveal whatever you saw her to anybody else, as I have requested Allah Most High to keep me hidden from the creation in this world.  Except Hadhrat Bayazeed Bustami (May Allah shower His Mercy on him), nobody has seen me.

The Khwaja didn’t have any custom of religious music (Sama’a).  Once, Hadhrat Shaykh Abu Sa’eed came to visit him.  He asked the Khwaja:  If you permit, the singers will sing something.  The Khwaja said:  We have nothing to do with this.  For your sake, we will listen to it.

 

During the session, Hadhrat Abu Sa’eed told the Shaykh:  O Shaykh!  It is time for you to stand and dance.  The Khwaja stood up and shook his sleeves and tapped his foot on the ground.  All the walls of the monastery started swaying along with the Khwaja.  Hadhrat Abu Sa’eed (May Allah shower His Mercy on him) said:  O Shaykh!  Please stop!  All the walls will crumble otherwise.  By Allah!  The earth and the sky will also start swaying along with you!  Then the Khwaja said:  Religious music is permissible for that person who has seen the ‘Arsh of Almighty Allah and the very bowels of the earth.

Bu Ali Seena (Avicenna) was a contemporary of the Khwaja.  He had heard the fame of the Khwaja and came to visit him.  Avicenna himself was a genius and a polymath.  He came to the house of the Khwaja and knocked at the door, asking for the Khwaja.  The Khwaja’s wife said:  What do you want with that liar?  And she said many other things.  Avicenna thought:  If a person’s wife doesn’t accept him, then what is left to be said about such a person.

 

Still Avicenna went into the forest to search for the Khwaja.  He saw that the Khwaja is coming with a tiger on which the load of wood is placed.  Avicenna was surprised and asked:  What is this O Shaykh!  Something else inside the house and something entirely different outside house!  The Khwaja said:  If I don’t bear the load of such a person (his wife), then why will this tiger bear my load?

 

They returned to the monastery.  After some time, the Khwaja said:  I have made arrangements to repair a wall.  He got up and started repairing the wall.  By chance, his tool fell to the ground.  Avicenna wanted to pick it up and hand it to the Khwaja, but that tool came back to the Shaykh’s hands of its own accord.