This story is narrated from Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Jailani rahimahullah. One day, when Sheikh Abdul Qadir together with his students were walking through an alley in the old city of Baghdad, they met a drunkard lying in a ditch by the side of the road. His clothes was dirty and soiled. Unexpectedly, the drunk stopped the steps of Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Jailani and his students.
He called out Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Jailani while saying, “O Abdul Qadir, Allah is omnipotent or not?”
With a friendly smile, Sheikh Abdul Qadir answered the question, “Sure. God Almighty is.”
As if he had not heard Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Jailani’s answer, the drunkard asked again, “O Abdul Qadir, Allah is omnipotent or not?”
With a loving smile, Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Jailani responded to the drunkard’s question, “Sure. Allah is the Essence of the Almighty for everything. ”
For the third time, the drunkard asked the same question, “O Abdul Qadir, Allah is omnipotent or not?”
At the third question, Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Jailani sobbed. He prostrated to Allah and said, “By Allah, O my brother. Allah is omnipotent, omnipotent, omnipotent. ”
After that, Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Jailani ordered his students to take the drunkard to his house and bathe him. They were also asked to glorify and serve him as well as possible.
Seeing the attitude and actions of his teacher, the students were surprised and curious. Finally, they ventured to ask about the secret behind the drunken questions
Sheikh Abdul Qadir al-Jailani heard the questions of his students patiently and attentively. He then said, “My sons, the meaning of the drunkard’s first question is, does Allah Almighty accept my repentance or not? So I replied: Sure. Allah is Almighty to accept your repentance. Meanwhile, the purpose of the second question is, does Allah Almighty make me in your position? So I replied: Sure. Allah is Almighty for that. And on the third question, does Allah Almighty make you in my position? This third question caused me to cry out of fear of God. Then I answered with a thrilled heart: Sure. Allah is Almighty, Almighty, Almighty. The question also prompted me to prostrate and pray to God not to make me feel safe about God’s plan. May God take care of my health and cover up my shame. ”
An important lesson to be learned from this story is that we are not deceived by the position, deeds and knowledge that we have. Praise be to Allah the one who can everything but never change himself into anything.
In every sujud when praying, we should always pray “O the one who turns the heart, strengthen my heart to Your religion.”
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Source: Dr. Abd al-Fattah Qudaisy al-Yafi’iy, Sana’a University
This article is available in Indonesian
