The Fruit of Belief and Tawakal

Malik b. Dinar (mercy be upon him) says, ”I was on my way to Mecca for the performance of Hajj. When I saw a young boy on foot. He neither had any means of transport nor provision for the journey. I paid him salutationto which he responded.

I said ”O young boy, from where are you coming?” He replied, ”From Him (God). ”Taken back by his reply, I asked him about him about his destination, to which he replied he was returning to God. I asked him,”So where are your provisions of food and water?” The young boy relied, ”I had , at the outset of my journey, some words as the provision of my journey.” I asked him what these words were. He told me: ”These are: Ka’f – Ha’ – Ya’- Ain – Saad – the Holy commandments of the Almighty God.’ He further expalined the words,”Ka’f – The Sufficient; Ha’- The Guide; Ya’- The Protecter; ‘Ain – Knower of all things and Saad – The True To His Promise. Thus a man, the companion of whom is One Who is Sufficient, the unerring guide, the Protecter, the Knower of all things and the true (True of His Words), can never be ruined or entertained by any fear. Can such a person bother another for the carriage of any provision and water during the course of his journey?”

Malik further says,  I wanted to give the young boy my clothes but he refused to take them. The boy replied, ”In the Hereafter, we will be answerable for the permissible things of the world and will have to suffer punishment for the forbidden things.”

When the darkness of night spread over, the young boy turned his face towards the sky and prayed to Allah by uttering these words, ‘O Allah!Favour me with that thing by which Thou art pleased, that is Obedience, and forgive me that thing which causeth Thou no loss, that is Sin’. After this, the people put on their ihram and began to recite the words: ”Here I am to do Thou bidding my Lord!” The young man remained silent. I asked him, ”Why don’t you declare the same?” He replied, ”I am afraid of the response that ”I neither want to talk to you or pay any attention to you (i.e Him not being worthy of service to Allah). After this, he was not seen during the journey.

At last, he was spotted in Mina where he recited some poetic verses,
‘The Beloved, Who is keen to shed my blood, has every right to shed my blood in haram or outside haram. By God! If my soul comes to know with Whom it is related, it may stand headlong instead on foot. O Censorer! Do not censure me for being entangled in His love. If you happen to see, what I am seeing, you would never dare to talk like this. On the day of ‘Id the people sacrified sheep and goats in the way of Allah but the lover of Allah sacrified his life in His way. The people have performed the Hajj but my Hajj is that, I have been able to acquire tranquillity. The people have sacrified sheep and goats but I sacrified my blood and soul. After this he prayed, “The people have gained access to thee by sacrifices. I have nothing to sacrifice save my soul. I offer it to thee for acceptance’. Thereupon he screamed and fell to the ground. He later died.

Malik after witnessing this incident said, “I performed the burial of the young boy and remained anxious and thoughtful about him the whole night. When I fell asleep I saw him in a dream. I asked him, ‘What had happened to you?’ He replied, ‘As had happened with the martyrs of Badr”‘