Stories of the Pious by Shaykh Ahmad Ali

Introduction

All praise is due to Allah, The Most Beneficent and The Most Merciful. We praise Him, and seek His forgiveness. We seek refuge in Allah from the evils of ourselves and the mischief of our deeds. Whomsoever Allah guides cannot be misguided and whomsoever Allah misguides cannot be guided. Peace and blessings be upon the final messenger, Muhammad (SAW), upon his family and his noble companions Ameen.

Whilst on a visit to Darul-Uloom AI-Arabiya, Lancashire; in search of material for a lecture, by chance I came across a very beautiful piece of work. It was the book ‘Rawdur-Ryyahen Fee Hikaayaat as-Saliheen’ written by a master of the 7th century. The book contains around 500 beautiful stories about the pious, their experiences and their karamaat (miracles). Having read this book I was very intrigued, and realizing that the author had compiled these stories because of his love for the Awliya; immediately the thought of translating the book and benefiting the English speaking Muslims came to mind. However, fearing that I may not be able to complete the translation of the whole book I decided finally to at least translate a few stories to express my love for the Awliya. I hope one day Allah will give tawfiq to somebody to translate the whole book.

The author of the original work, which consists of around 600 pages and 500 stories, was Afifud-Din Abdullah bin As’ad Al- Yamani al- Yafi’ee as-Shafi’ee. Born 696AH near Aadan, Yemen; he was a man of great capability which began to show at a very early age. He benefited from, and studied under, Qadi Najmuddin at-Tabri; Radi -ud- din at- Tabri; Salih Mohammed bin Ahmad al Bassal; Shaykh Sharfud Ahmad bin ali al-Harazi. Acknowled and praised by his teachers he was a great scholar who spent his life serving the deen and his 44 works bear witness to this. His most famous work was ‘Rawdur-Raiyaheen’. He died in 768AH (May Allah grant him paradise).