Dirhams from the Unseen

A pious man relates, I was travelling with a caravan through a jungle when I saw a woman walking ahead. She appeared weak, so I thought that perhaps she was walking in front so that she is not left behind. I found a few dirhams in my pocket and gave them to her and said, “When the caravan stops, come to me and I will ask the people to offer you some money”, enabling her to purchase an animal to ride on. She stretched out her hands and showed me some dirhams clenched in her hands. She gave them to me and said “You took them from your pocket and I from the unseen”.

Shaykh Abu Saeed al-Kharraz relates, once I entered Masjid al-Harram and noticed a man begging. He wore two torn, dirty garments. I thought, “People like him are a burden on the rest”. Unexpectedly, he turned and looked at me, reciting the following verse from the Qur’an. “Know well that Allah Knows what is in your hearts, so be fearful of him”. On hearing this, I immediately turned to Allah to forgive me for my evil thought. The man then called me and recited, “It is He who accepts repentance from His servants and pardons evils and knows what you do”.