I have seen many of the masha’ikh of suluk fall because of arrogance and the story of Shaikh Abu Abdullah Andlusi is so deeply engraved in my heart that it often inadvertently flows into my writing. I wish that the salikeen, and anyone who has some affiliation to tasawwuf, would also preserve it in their hearts. Shaikh Abu Abdullah Andlusi was one of the akabir of the auliya-allah. Many khanqahs ran under his auspices, hundreds of madaris operated under his name, and he had thousands of students and disciples. It was the end of 200 A.H. and only 200 years had elapsed since the Blessed Prophet passed away. It is as if the era of khair-ul-quroon still existed. It is said that he had over 12,000 murideen. Once he went on a journey accompanied by great shuyukh and ulama like Junaid Baghdadi and Hadhrat Shibli. Hadhrat Shibli says: Our caravan was moving peacefully and with the blessings of Allah. Then we passed by a Christian village. There was little time left for salah and we could not find water in the village. There was a small well on the outskirts of this village where some women were filling their buckets with water. As soon as the Shaikh (Abu Abdullah Andlusi) saw one of the women his situation changed. Shaikh bowed his head and he stopped eating, drinking, and talking to anyone for three whole days. We were worried and depressed. On the third day, I gathered the courage to say, ‘O Shaikh, thousands of your murideen are worried about your condition.’ Shaikh turned towards everyone and said, ‘My friends, how long am I going to hide my problem from you? The day before yesterday, I saw this girl and my love for her has overwhelmed me to the extent that it has gripped my limbs and body. Now it is impossible for me to leave here.’

I replied, O Shaikh, you are the shaikh of Iraq and are renowned for your austerity, your asceticism, and your wealth of knowledge. The number of your murideen exceeds 12,000. By the Quran, please do not disgrace us and everyone here.

Shaikh replied, “My friend, your and my fate are foreordained by Allah. The wilayat (closeness to Allah ) has been taken from me and the signs of guidance removed.’ Saying this, he began to cry and said, ‘O my people, my destiny is running its course, nothing is in my control.’

We were struck by this statement and began to cry in anguish. The shaikh began crying with us and soon the earth became wet with the flood of our tears. After this, we had no choice but to return to Baghdad. The shaikh’s murideen in Baghdad were devastated when we explained the whole situation to them. Some of them died in shock and grief then and there. Most of them began begging Allah and pleading with Him that, ‘O Changer of hearts, show the shaikh guidance and return him back to his original state.’ After this, all the khanqahs shut down and we spent an entire year in pain and anguish without our shaikh. After the year passed, the murideen decided to make a trip to shaikh and find out about his condition. Where is he and how is he doing? Thus, one group of murideen traveled to the village and asked the people the whereabouts of their shaikh. They told us, ‘He is grazing the pigs in the jungle.’ We thought, ‘O Allah, what is happening!’ The village people explained, ‘The shaikh was engaged to the daughter of our chief. Her father accepted the engagement under this condition (i.e., he would graze the pigs) and now he is grazing the pigs.’ We were astonished and were about to drown in our sorrow and grief. Tears began flowing from our eyes and we were barely able to suppress our emotions when we reached the outer edges of the jungle where the shaikh was grazing pigs. We saw the shaikh: he was wearing a Christian cap on his head and a girdle around his waist; he was leaning on the stick which he leaned on during khutbas and speeches, as he oversaw the pigs. The scene was like salt on our wounds. When shaikh saw us walking towards him he looked down. When we came close, we said, ‘Assalamu alaikum,’ and he softly replied, ‘Walaikum assalam.’” Shibli said, ‘O Shaikh, look at your condition after all the knowledge, greatness, and hadith and tafsir.’ Shaikh replied, ‘O my brothers, I am not my control, my Maula (Creator) did what He wished with me and after bringing me close, when He wished, He threw me away from His door. Who can avoid what He has destined for you. O my friends fear the Wrath of Allah; don’t ever become arrogant about your knowledge and status.’ Then he looked towards the sky and said, ‘O my Maula, I did not think You would do such a thing and throw me out Your door.’ Saying this, he began crying and begging for help from Allah and said, ‘O Shibli, learn from others!’ Shibli cried and supplicated, ‘O our Rabb, we ask none but You for help and in everything we put our trust in You. Please remove this hardship from us. There is none but You who can lift this hardship from us.’

Hearing our pleas and crying, the pigs gathered around us and began squealing. The shaikh was also sobbing. Shibli said, ‘Shaikh you were hafiz of Quran and recited the Quran in the seven qirat (recitations). Do you remember any now?’ The shaikh replied, ‘O friend, I do not remember anything from the Quran except two ayaat. The first is,

ومن یھن الله فمالھ من مكرم ان الله یفعل ما یشاء

Whosoever Allah humiliates, there is no one to give him respect. Verily Allah does whatever he wishes.

And the second ayah is,

ومن یتبدل الكفر بالایمان فقد ضل سواء السبیل

Whoever chooses kufr in place of iman, verily he has deviated from the straight path.

Shibli asked, “O Shaikh, you knew 30,000 ahadith with the chains of transmission and could recall them instantly. Do you remember anything from the ahadith?’ The sheikh said, ‘I only remember one hadith,

من بدل دینھ فاقتلوه

‘Whoever changes his Deen, execute him.’’

Shibli says:

“Seeing this condition of the sheikh, we decided to return to Baghdad. We had only traveled a short distance when on the third day; we saw the shaikh in front of us, emerging from the bank of a river where he had bathed. He was loudly pronouncing and repeating the kalimah, اشھد ان لا الھ الا الله و اشھد ان محمد رسول الله

Only the person who felt our pain and anguish before this could understand our joy at that moment. Afterwards, we asked the sheikh, ‘Was there some reason behind all this?’ The shaikh replied, ‘Yes, when we stopped by this village we passed by temples and churches. When I saw fire-worshippers and Christians worshipping something besides Allah, I felt arrogance in my heart that, ‘We are mumineen, believers in the one Creator. Look at these ignorant and foolish people who worship inanimate and unintelligent beings.’ Immediately, I heard a voice from the Unseen that, ‘This iman and belief in the Oneness of Allah is not attained by your efforts, it is granted by Our Will. Do you think your iman is in your hands that you look down upon others? If you wish We will prove it to you right now (that iman is by My will).’ At that moment, I felt as if a bird flew from my heart which in reality was my iman.’” (end of quote)

In this incident I meant to narrate only the last portion since the whole incident has already been narrated in Aap Beti and in Akabir Ka Suluk by Sufi Iqbal. Hakim Ilyas has also written a book based on this incident by the name of Shaikh Andlusi ka Aik Ajeeb au Ghareeb ibratnaak Wakia. This arrogance is dangerous it brought down a shaikh of shuyukh.

May Allah by His Grace and Mercy save us from this deadly disease. Ameen.

Sent in by: Moulana Hassan Sulaiman