I will narrate to you a story surrounding the life of a
great saint Sheikh Abdul Qadir Al-Gelani which happened about one thousand
years ago. One day child Abdul Qadir heard a cow saying, “what are you doing
here in the grazing fields, it is not for this you have been created”. He ran
back to his house feeling utterly terrified and climbed on to the roof of his
house. From there he saw a large group of people returning from Arafat Mountain,
thousands of miles away from his place in the neighbourhood of Mecca after
performing Haj. Bewildered Abdul Qadir went to his mother and asked her
permission to make a journey to Baghdad in order to pursue a career in
knowledge.
Mother understood the divine call and promptly gave the permission
for him to go. She gave him 40 gold coins which was his share he inherited from
his father. She stitched these 40 gold coins inside the lining of his coat and
gave him permission to leave. When she stepped out of the door to bid him a
farewell, she said, “Oh, my son! You are going! I have detached myself from you
for the sake of Allah knowing that I shall not see your face again until the
day of last judgement. But take one advice from me. My son, you always feel the
truth, speak the truth and propagate the truth even when your life is at
stake”.
Abdul Qadir travelled with a small caravan heading for
Baghdad. During the journey, when the caravan was passing through the tough
terrains, a group of robbers on horses suddenly attacked the caravan and
started looting. None of them however took the slightest notice of Abdul Qadir,
until one of the looters turned to him and said. “You are here poor boy! Do you
have anything with you? Abdul Qadir replied, “I have got 40 gold coins which
are stitched by my mother in the lining of my coat underneath my armpit.” The
looter smiled and thought that Abdul Qadir was just joking. He left him alone
and moved elsewhere. When their leader came and the looters took this boy to
their leader and said to him, “A poor boy claims that he is in possession of 40
gold coins. We looted everybody but we have not touched him because we hardly
believed that he has got gold coins with him”. Then the leader put the same
question but Abdul Qadir replied the same. Then the leader ripped through his
coat and discovered that he indeed got 40 gold coins inside the lining of his
coat.
The astonished leader asked Abdul Qadir, what prompted him to make this confession? Abdul Qadir replied. “My mother made me promise to always be truthful even at the cost of my life. Here, it was a matter of only 40 Gold coins. I promised her and never betrayed her trust, so I told the truth”. The looters started weeping and said, you have adhered to the advice of your great mother but we have been betraying the trust of our parents and the covenant of our Creator for many years. From now onwards, you would become our leader in our repentance and they all decided to give up robbery and from that day, became righteous persons. Here the world saw the birth of a great saint, Shiek Abdul Qadir Al-Gilani out of a message of truth a mother gave to her child.
The astonished leader asked Abdul Qadir, what prompted him to make this confession? Abdul Qadir replied. “My mother made me promise to always be truthful even at the cost of my life. Here, it was a matter of only 40 Gold coins. I promised her and never betrayed her trust, so I told the truth”. The looters started weeping and said, you have adhered to the advice of your great mother but we have been betraying the trust of our parents and the covenant of our Creator for many years. From now onwards, you would become our leader in our repentance and they all decided to give up robbery and from that day, became righteous persons. Here the world saw the birth of a great saint, Shiek Abdul Qadir Al-Gilani out of a message of truth a mother gave to her child.
- Dr. Abdul Kalam