(from lectures of Shaykh Muhammad Saleem Dhorat )

SHAYKH SHIBLI RELATES:

Whilst in Tawaaf of the Ka’bah he heard a person’s “Labbayk” being rejected over and over again with a voice from above pronouncing “laa laka labbayk”. He caught hold of the person and asked whether or not he heard the voice from above. On receiving a reply in the affirmative, he asked the man why then he continued calling out Labbayk. The reply was,
“agar is dar ko chordu to kis dar pe jaawu”
i.e. where else is there for me to go and who else is there for me to call if I leave this house?
Saying this he continued and this time the voice from above declared, “Labbayk yaa ‘abdi labbayk- I am here O my slave, I am here”!


LESSON FROM AN AMUSING STORY

A man had bought a goat and was on his way home when a few people decided to con him out of it. As he walked with the goat the first person greeted him and commented, “Nice dog”. The man immediately said angrily, “Cant you see? It’s a goat!”, and so saying carried on. Further on a second man said the same thing. This time he looked back at the goat and with a little less confidence said, “It’s a goat”.

When a third person did the same he became doubtful and his confidence dwindled to a low but he nevertheless answered that it was a goat. However when a fourth person commented “nice dog”, he lost all confidence and remained silent. He looked back and rubbed his eyes thinking it looks like a goat but since people are saying it’s a dog, perhaps it’s a dog and with this thought he let the goat go free.

This is exactly our state. Despite knowing we are lower than dogs, when people praise us and ask us to made du’a and address us respectfully, we fall for it and become convinced we are “someone”! This is wrong. Till our last breadth it should be ‘I am nothing, my heart is full of filth’.

THE PRIDE OF AN ‘AABID

There lived a great ‘Aabid (worshipper) amongst the Bani Israa’eel. Such was his status in the eyes of Allah subhaanahu wata’aalaa, that a cloud remained above him, shading him at all times. One day while resting at a place a very sinful and lowly person passed by. On noticing the pious wali of Allah he went and sat near him thinking that being such an evil and sinful person, he would certainly benefit by sitting next to this great ‘Aabid.

The ‘Aabid however, immediately got up and walked off, angry at the audacity of such a sinful person coming to sit near him. After taking a few steps he noticed that the cloud which always accompanied him was not there. He looked back and saw that the cloud now shaded the sinful person he had just left!

He hurried to the Nabi of the time and related the whole incident. The Nabi said he had been waiting for him as Jibra’eel had already visited him to convey a message from Allah saying that the sinful person had been forgiven all his past sins and was granted a new beginning….the message for the ‘Aabid was that he too was given a new beginning as all his past good deeds had been wiped out on account of the pride which entered his heart!