Implanting Love for Reliance and Fear of Allah (2/2)

Practical Examples of The Early Righteous Muslims
The  Commander   of  the  Believers,  ‘Umar  ibn al-Khattab,   walked   along  the  street  while   some children were playing  with each  other.  Upon seeing him coming, the children, save one called 'Abdullah ibn Az-Zubayr, fled from him. Wondering  about this boy,  'Umar asked  him  about  why  he  had  not  fled from  him.  The child declared, "I am neither guilty nor in fear of you, so I did not escape nor leave the place for you.[1]”

While traveling, Ibn ‘Umar   saw   a little   boy tending a flock of sheep.  "Would you sell me one of them?"  Ibn 'Umar asked.  "But I am not the actual owner of them," answered the boy. Ibn ‘Umar again asked, "What if you pretend that a wolf ate it?" The slave boy replied impressively, "Is not Allah watching me!" Ibn 'Umar, thereupon, kept this statement in mind and uttered it repeatedly for a time.

It happened that a scholar was used to giving one of his students special attention.  Some accused him and asked about the reason. He answered them practically.  He gave each of his students a bird and ordered them to slay it with the condition that none could see him. All the students slew their bird except for the one to whom he paid special attention.  The scholar asked him the reason for not slaying the bird, and upon this the student answered, “I found no place in which I could be alone". Commenting on these indicative words the scholar said, "That is why I shower him with love and attention more than the others.[2]” Meaning that the student realized that there was no place where Allah, the Almighty, could not see him.

In his  book,  Ihya'   'Ulum  Ad-Din,   Imam  Abu Hamid al-Ghazali  narrated a very interesting  story: "Sahl ibn "Abdullah at-Tasturi  said,  'Wben I  was three years old, I woke up at night, and there I found my  uncle  Muhammad ibn Siwar  performing   the night  prayer.  Once  be asked  me,  'Why  don't  you remember  Allah,  Who  has  created  you?'  I asked, 'How can I do so?' 'To say these words three times without uttering them with your tongue - Allah supports me, Allah sees me, and Allah keeps a watchful eye on me. I kept repeating them for some days, then I informed him so. Thereupon, he said, 'Do the same thing seven times every night.'  So I did, then I told him. 'Do the same thing eleven times every night,' he said. I said them and enjoyed their sweetness.  After one year, my uncle said to me, 'Memorize and adhere to what I have taught you, as this brings you great reward in this world and in the Hereafter'.  I kept  on  acting  in accordance   with  his advice    for   many   years    until   he   said    to   me, 'Whomever    Allah    supports, sees  and keeps  a watchful  eye  on  him, could  not  commit   even   the slightest  sin, could  he?' Then he added, 'Be mindful of committing a sin.' When I reached the age of six or seven, I finished learning and memorizing   the Qur’an by heart.  I observed fasting frequently   and made barley bread, my diet for twelve years."

In his book, Anba' Nujaba' al-Abna', Ibn Zufar al-Makki narrated, "One day, during his childhood, al-Harith al-Muhasibi passed by some boys   who were playing and he looked at them.  The owner of the house, beside the place where they were playing, offered some dates to al-Muhasibi.  In his answer to al-Muhasibi's query about the source of the dates the man said, 'They fell from a man, from whom I had already bought some.' 'Do you know him?' asked al-Muhasibi. 'Yes,' was     the man's answer. Al-Muhasibi looked at the boys who were playing and asked them, 'Is this man a Muslim?'  ‘Yes,' they replied. When he heard this, Al-Muhasibi   left the man and walked away, but the man followed him and asked why he had   behaved this way to   him. Al-Muhasibi turned to him and said, 'O venerable man!  As long as you are a Muslim, you should do your best to find the owner of the dates and return them to him. How could you offer ill-gotten property for Muslim children to eat? Shame on you!' The man replied, 'By Allah, I will never make this world my target.'"

In  the  same  book,  Ibn Zufar  said,  "When  Abu al-Husayn  Ahmad  ibn Muhammad  memorized  the Qur'an, he was obliged to study it in the shop where he worked. Every morning he would leave the shop to go and learn more about the Qur'an and for this reason his father threatened him and sometimes beat him. One day his father asked him, 'Would you gain anything from what you are learning?'  The young boy replied, 'To know Allah and make me close to Him is the fruit which I desire.'  The father asked, 'How could you know Him?'  The child declared, 'When I consider what He prescribed and what He forbade, then I become acquainted with Him.' Again the father asked, 'But how could you bring yourself closer to Him?' The child replied, 'By acting in accordance with what He has taught me.' Thereupon the father said, 'By Allah, I will never hinder you.'"