Sarkar Ghawth Paak, Imam Abdullah and Ibn Saqqah

[Sag E Dargah E Jilani]

Asalamu Alaykum

Imam Abu Sa'id Abdullah Bin Ali Bin Asrun Tamimi (Rahmatullahi ta'ala alayh) in his era was an imam of the shafa'i school of jurisprudence. This imam states that Ibn Saqqah was his class fellow in Jamiah Nizamiyyah in Baghdad. They both made Ibadah together and visited the illustrious Mashaikh. At that time in Baghdad, a person was known as the Ghawth and his amazing karamat was that he had the ability to appear and disappear as he desired. One day myself, Ibn Saqqah and a young Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani (Rahmatullahi ta'ala alayh) decided to visit this Ghawth.

On the way to him, Ibn Saqqah said, "I will ask him such a question to which he will not know the answer to". I too said I will ask him a question to see what answer he gives. The young Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani (Rahmatullahi ta'ala alayh) said "Allah forbid!!! I will never ask him any question. I am only eager to make his Ziyarah and derive spiritual benefits from him". However, when we reached the location of the Ghawth we did not find him there. So we waited. Suddenly, he appeared and looked directly at Ibn Saqqah with jalaal and said "Woe to you Oh Ibn Saqqah! You intend to ask me such a question which I would not be able to answer. Here, this is your question and here is my answer. Verily, I see the fire of kufr burning within you."

Then he looked at me and said "Oh Abdullah! You too intended to ask me a question and see what will be my answer. This is your question and this is my answer. The world will rain dung on you so much so that you will be covered with it till your ear lobes and they will drown in it. This is the punishment for your disrespect to me."

The Ghawth then looked at Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani (Rahmatullahi ta'ala alayh) with great compassion and then seated him with honour close to himself. He then said to him "Oh Abdul Qadir! Indeed you have pleased Allah Azawajul and his Rasool Sallahu Tala Alayhi Wasallam with your refined adab. I see in the future that one day you will be seated on a chair in Baghdad and you will declare that my foot is on the neck of all the Awliya. Every Wali of that era will bend down their neck to you in respect for you." The Ghawth said this and then instantly disappeared from our sight and we never saw him again.

In later days, every word of the Ghawth manifested immaculately into the reality as predicted. Sayyedinah Shaykh Abdul Qadir Jilani (Rahmatullahi ta'ala alayh) emerged as a star in the firmament of divine proximity and he was crowded by both the common people and the elite. He announced that his foot is on the neck of every wali and they acknowledged this.

Ibn Saqaah experienced the wrath of the Ghawth and eventually became a murtad. He fell in love with the daughter of a christian king and asked for her hand in marriage. She agreed on the condition that he first become a christian. He was so blinded in her love that he gave up islam for her and became a kafir.

As for me (Imam Abdullah (Rahmatullahi ta'ala alayh) ), after completion of my studies in Iraq, I went to Damascus where Sultan Noor Al Din Shahid (Rahmatullahi ta'ala alayh) appointed me as a tresurer of the Awqaf (Ministry of endowment). It was here that I was swamped with the inflow of wealth and commodites of this mudane world. The prediction of the Ghawth was absolutely precise and everything happened as he had forecasted.

Jazak Allah Khayran

This waqiah can be found in Fatawa E Hadithiyya by Imam Ahmad Ibn Hajr Makki Alayhir Rahmah and also in Nuzhat Al Khatir Al Fatir Trajuma Sayyidi Al Sharif Abd Al-Qadir by Imam Mullah Ali Qari Alayhir Rahmah

[Sag E Dargah E Jilani]

Fatwa E Hadithiya further states on the consequences of Ibn Saqqah as follows:

" The unfortunate Ibn Saqqah was a very great Alim and he was superior to his contemporaries in the field of shariah. He was a Hafiz E Quran and a great Debater. He silenced anyone who debated with him in any field of knowledge. Such a great Alim and debater lost his iman and became a murtad due to his disrespect to a Ghawth. Though the christian king gave him his daughter in marriage to Ibn Saqqah, one day he fell sick. The king threw him out of the palace into the market place. Here, he began to beg but everyone ignored him. A person recognised him and said "you were a hafiz e quran, do you still remember it?". He said everything dissapperered from his heart accept one ayah

"How much will those who disbelieve wish that they had bowed (to Allah's will) in Islam". (Quran Al Karim, Surah Al Hijr-Ayah 2)

Imam Abdullah (Rahmatullahi ta'ala alayh) states "One day I went out looking for him and found him in a terrible state. His entire body seemed to be burnt by fire and it was his last moments of life before death. I turned his face towards the Kiblah, but it turned away to the opposite side. I tried again and the same thing happened. I continued for several times but still his face turned away. Eventually, he died in the same state.

Time and again, Ibn Saqqah remembered the words of the Ghawth and kept repeating them. He knew very well that his agony and destruction was solely due to his disrespect."