Dho ‘l-Nun, A Saint | His Saying

The great muslim writer Fariduddin Attar believes that the words of the Saints are profitable even to those who cannot put them into practice, inasmuch as they strengthen aspiration and destroy self-conceit.

The Great Jonaid (or Al-Jonaid) of Baghdad, (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “Their sayings are one of the armies of Almighty God whereby He confirms and reinforces the disciple, if his heart be dejected.”

The Imam Yusof Hamadhani advised some people, who asked him what they should do when
the Saints had passed away from the earth, to read eight pages of their Sayings every day. Attar felt that it was incumbent upon him to supply this desideratum. And this was one of his motives in writing the Tadhkiratul Awliya' (Memoirs of Saints)

1.
One of the great saints mentioned in this book is Dho ‘l-Nun al-Mesri Abu ‘l-Faiz Thauban ibn Ebrahim al-Mesri. Also called Dho ‘l-Nun,he was born at Ekhmim in Upper Egypt c. 180 (796), studied under various teachers and travelled extensively in Arabia and Syria.

In 214 (829) he was arrested on a charge of heresy and sent to Baghdad to prison, but after examination he was released on the caliph’s orders to return to Cairo, where he died in 246 AH (861 CE); his tombstone has been preserved. A legendary figure as alchemist and thaumaturge, he is supposed to have known the secret of the
Egyptian hieroglyphs. A number of poems and short treatises are attributed to him, but these are for the most part apocryphal.

2.
Dho ‘l-Nun related as follows:
For thirty years I called men to repent, but only one person came to the court of God in due obedience. The circumstances were these.
One day a prince with his retinue passed by me by the door of the mosque. I spoke these words:“No one is more foolish than the weakling who tangles with the strong.”
“What words are these?” demanded the prince.
“Man is a weakling, yet he tangles with God who is strong,” I said.
The young prince grew pale. He arose and departed.
Next day he returned.
“What is the way to God?” he asked.
“There is a little way, and there is a greater way,” I answered. “Which of the two do you want? If you desire the little way, abandon the world and the lusts of
the flesh and give up sinning. If you want the great way,abandon everything but God, and empty your heart of all things.”
“By Allah, I will choose only the greater way,” said the prince.
The next day he put on the woollen robe, and entered the mystic way. In due course he became a saint.

3.
One day Dho ‘l-Nun’s companions came to him and found him weeping.
“Why are you weeping?” they asked.
“Last night when I was prostrating in prayer,” he replied, “my eyes closed in sleep. I saw the Lord, and He said to me, ‘O Abu ‘l-Faiz, I created all creatures and they separated into ten parts.
I offered the material world to them; nine of those ten parts turned their faces to the material world. One part remained over.
That one part divided also into ten parts. I offered Paradise to them; nine parts turned their faces to Paradise. One part remained over.
That one part split likewise into ten parts. I brought Hell before them; all fled and were scattered for fear of Hell.
Only one part remained over, those who had not been lured by the material world, nor inclined after Paradise, neither were afraid of Hell. I said to them, “My servants, you looked not upon the material world, you inclined not after Paradise, you were not afraid of Hell. What do you seek?”
All raised their heads and cried, “Thou knowest best what we desire.”

4.

These words uttered by Dho 'l-Nun reminds us and inspires us that we must not forget to Choose God. The Hell whose existence frightens the believers... to abstain from the forbidden things and the Heaven whose existence encourages the believers... to follow the commandments of God, are already things worth being grateful to our Lord. Every time these are mentioned we are reminded of our duties and responsibilities to our Lord and inspires us to pray and remember Him. Yet, we must not also forget that these may also tempt us... to such point we pray and follow the Commandments in great hope that paradise may be rewarded to us... and we abstain from forbidden things that we may not be thrown to the Hell.
Better than that, we must pray, follow the commandments, and abstain from forbidden things just for his sake, nothing more.

May God be pleased with Dho 'l-Nun.

And praise and thanks to God, the Creator of all the worlds for giving us these glad tidings, these consciousness, and these thoughts.


Reference:
Tadhkiratul Awliya' - Fariruddin Attar
Futu Al Ghaib - Hadrat Abdul Qadir Al-Jilani