THE STORY OF LAYLA AND THE CALIPH OF BAGHDAD

By Hazrat Hakim Muhammad Akhtar Saheb

Once the Caliph of Baghdad told Layla:

"You are so very dark and ugly

But yet Majnoon is so madly in love with you.

You have no special beauty beyond other beautiful women

So why is this Majnoon so mad about you?"

Lalyla replied:

"O Caliph, if you also possessed the eyes of Majnoon,

You too would have become oblivious to both worlds.

o Caliph, you are involved with your self-centredness

His love for me has made him (Majnoon) unconscious of himself

And this unconsciousness in the path of love is beneficial

While consciousness is harmful".

(In other words, it is a sign of true love when a person is only

aware and conscious of the existence of a beloved, while being unconscious and unaware of anyone

else).

LESSON:

In this story the following advises are found:

1) Hajee Imdadullah Muhajir Makki (RA.), used to say:

"O Lord, Make me unaware of all others

And let me remain conscious only of Your existence".

This does not mean that he prays to become negligent and unmindful of relatives, wife, children and

other loved ones. But what he means is that let my care over them also be for Allah's sake, not just being

good to them by way of recompense, or expecting something in return. In this way contact with Allah's

creation through the sincerity of intention becomes contact with Creator.

2) The second point of advise is this that one should, through the company of the saintly ones,

endeavour to acquire a sight of respect for the Sahabah, the Walis of Allah, the Kaaba, Madina Shareef,

the Hajar-e-Aswad, Safa, Marwa, Mina, Arafaat, Muzdalifah, all the mosques of the world, and the

servants of these mosques.

We should through the saintly ones and their company acquire that attitude of glance and honour,

because without the company of those saintly ones, this sort of glance and attitude is not generally

acquired. There is a big difference between the sight of the eyes and the insight of the heart. The sight

of the eyes is subject to the heart's perception. If the heart's perception is correct, the sight of the eyes

will also be correct. If the heart is ill due to Kufr and iniquity and the spiritual darkness that is created

through that, then the eyes too will not function properly. In such a case it will of necessity follow that

due to wrong inner perception one will become involved with the wrong sight.

Here is an example in this world: A person who is a seeker of Allah Taala, will consider it an honour for

himself and his good fortune to pick up the shoes of the saintly ones and carry them for him. On the

other hand there is the person who is a seeker after worldly goods, who turns away from Allah. He will

consider it an honour and a pleasure to flatter the worldly ones, serve them and do his utmost to please

them. Therefore you will notice that their inner perception of the hearts are different, their attitudes are

in contrast to each other.

In similar fashion, we may look at the era of the Sahabah. On the one hand we have Abu Hurayra with

his correct insight and perception. He said: "The face of Rasulullah shone so brightly that it seemed as if

his face was the (bright) morning sun".

On the other hand we have Abu Jahl and his wrong insight and wrong perception, which made him

practically blind to the truth. In fact, he only saw his own ugliness in the shining mirror of Nabi's face.

The anecdote of a dark ugly looking Abyssinian is quite wellknown. He was on a journey somewhere

and along the route he saw a mirror lying on the ground. He picked it up and looking into the mirror, he

saw his own reflection. He said: "If you had not been so ugly and dark with such thick lips, then why

would someone have thrown you here, in this jungle, with such unconcern".

This man did not realise that he was looking at his own reflection.

3. The third point is this that the ordinary man looks at the Saints of Allah with his imperfect empty life

and sight and thinks that they too are empty and deprived of all good and happiness.

Once a spiritually bankrupt person told Hajee Imdadullah Muhajir Makki (R.A.): "I am surprised that

Moulana Mohamed Qaasim Nanotwi (RA.) the founder of Darul Uloom, Deoband and Moulana Ashraf

Ali Thanwy (RA.) became Mureeds of yours".

Hajee Imdadullah replied: "Yes brother, I am also surprised that

these persons chose someone like myself, to become Mureeds"

Since Hajee Imdadullah Saheb (R.A.) had completely annihilated his nafs, he did not show any

displeasure at this criticism. May Allah make us all His sincere lovers, Ameen.

Khwaja Majzoob (R.A.) says:

"I found some complaining day and night

I found some in worries day and night

I did not find anyone happy under the skies,

Only Majzoob I found happy in this place of sorrow.

If they desire protection (Oh! Allah) from grief and sorrow

They should become Your mad lovers."