16. TRAVELS OF THE GREAT KHWAJA BABA (R.A.)
WITH HIS MURSHID
The Great Hazrat Khwaja Moinuddin Hassan
Chishty (R.A.) says that while he was
traveling with his peer-O-murshid, they
reached Sevistan and met Hazrat Sadruddin
Ahmed Sevistani in his somma (Monastery) he
lived there deeply absorbed in "complete
devotion to the Almighty. The Great Hazrat
Khwaja Moinuddin Chishty (R.A.) waited on
him for several days. This saint had the
habit of presenting articles he produced
from invisible sources to all his visitors.
His belief was that their prayers for him
would keep in him, up to his grave, his
faith in God and Prophet “Hazrat Mohammad (S.A.W.)”
and ward off evils. There is an Islamic
belief that the sinful dead would undergo
torture in their graves. Even this very
thought sent shivers through this dervesh's
the body and flung him into hysterics. Such
fits often kept him for long spells in a
wailing mood, when he wept loudly and
bitterly to the amazement, and sympathy of
the spectators. It was in one such fit that
the Great Khwaja Baba (R.A.) waited on him.
He explained the reasons, on recovery to
Khwaja Baba (R.A.) thus" "How can one, whose
death is certain and who is answerable on
the judgment day, remain engaged in worldly
pleasures? If one hears of the tortures the
dead suffer through snakes and scorpions one
is moved. I therefore recount a spectacle I
witnessed in Basrah, the dervesh Hazrat
Sadruddin went on. "One day a God-fearing
dervesh and I was seated in a graveyard in
Basrah. This dervesh divined through his
powers that a dead person in a nearby grave
was being subjected to horrible tortures, as
he had flouted Islamic canons during his
life. Realizing this, the dervesh let out a
narah (shriek) and lay dead on the spot. It
is this thought of after-death torture that
had kept the dervesh Hazrat Sadruddin in
seclusion for thirty years before and for
the first time this was revealed to the
Great Khwaja Baba (R.A.). "Therefore, his
advice was that the time should be spent in
the worship of God rather than among the
worldly people who are not aware of God.
This prepares us for the next world, he
concluded. As a parting gift he gave Khwaja
Baba (R.A.) a couple of Khurmas (dry dates)
and resumed his wailing.
From this strange experience the Great
Khwaja Baba (R.A.) infers that the life of
us mortals, being very short should be spent
in devotion to Allah and in the company of
God-fearing people so that we may ward off
sins and the consequential after death
tortures in the grave.
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