A True Story
One day, Mr. Mohammad Emin wanted to buy a new house. So, helped by one of his relatives, he was able to find a good, suitable one with specifications that fulfilled his purpose.
But when he asked about its price, he was astonished at the figure he was quoted. He did not expect that such a fine house with so many wonderful qualities would be so low-priced.
“How strange!” he said to himself, “It is an Arabic house with a roomy courtyard, with water streaming from a fountain in its centre. Fresh air flows throughout all the different parts of the house, and the sun shines into it for most of the day; it also contains many large rooms.
“So, how could it be so cheap, despite all these advantages?! The price they want me to pay for it is even less than half of what it should be worth.
“How strange!! There must be something wrong with it that the eye cannot see.”
So, the virtuous master asked, “What is wrong with this house that makes you sell it at such a low price? Come on, come on! Tell me what hidden defect it has, for otherwise I will not buy it!”
The owner of the house replied: “But if I do, you will feel bad towards it and will not buy it.”
“I will buy it if God wills. So tell me, what is its fault?”
“This house is haunted!” said the man.
He meant that a clique of evil spirits from the devils of jinn-kind lived in the house. They caused troubles for its inhabitants and made their life hard, which made them leave it after a short time and run away.
Yet from his deep belief in God, our noble and pure man knew that the Almighty controls and directs everything justly, so he feared nothing and cared about nobody except God, due to his high straight conduct and his blamelessness. He was always seeking God’s satisfaction, which amounted to the extent of his hopes and aims.
So, he decided that he would buy the house and accepted the price despite its dangerous defect, and gave the house’s owner the money saying:
“Such a problem is not important. Here is the money.”
After a few days he brought all of his belongings and furniture and settled in the new house with his wife.
The day they changed their residence was a hard and onerous day, filled with cleaning and organization. When the night set in, it was not long before Om Fathi – the wife of Mr. Mohammad Emin – walked to the bedroom of the new house, worn by toil and with a swinging gait. She was soon snoring in a deep sleep.
As for Mr. Mohammad Emin, Abo Fathi, he went to sleep in his own small room at about ten o’clock in the evening as was his habit. He had put a strict rule for himself in place, which was to sleep at ten o’clock in the evening and to awake at two after midnight so as to perform the night communications, praising God and approaching Him, the Almighty.
The time passed and the hands on the clock face began to move towards two o’clock at night. Thus, at the appointed time that venerable master woke up. But how strange!!
It was unusual not to find that calm and silence were prevailing over his home at such a late hour after midnight!!
He heard the noise of a coal oil burner as if someone had prepared it and set it alight. “Is it possible?!”, he said to himself in astonishment, “Is it possible?!
“God’s blessing! God’s blessing! Om Fathi must have awakened to perform the night communications before me, and then she must have begun to do the washing after her prayer! How active she is!!!
“Despite all this hard work of moving house, and arranging all of our belongings and furniture, and cleaning the place, here she is! Awake many hours before the call to the dawn prayer, in the full flow of activity and liveliness!! God bless her! She has preceded me in doing her duty and good work.”
He left his bed and opened the door of his small upstairs room, and then came down the stairs to the courtyard to perform the ritual ablution, and then to pray and perform the two bows of the night communications as he was used to doing.
Actually, his supposition had to be true, because when he looked through a window that overlooked the kitchen, he saw a heap of accumulated washing and the coal oil burner alight at the door of the kitchen, where a big container filled with water had been put over it. So, definitely, Om Fathi was in the kitchen!
He finished his own ablution, and then went ahead to the courtyard, where he saw three young children holding each others’ hands and jumping.
He found plenty of oddity in this matter. “How strange!!” he wondered, “How can they jump and play, laughing and rejoicing, at such a late hour of the night? And how could they have entered the building when the outer door is closed and locked??!
“Really, this is an outlandish matter!”
So, he asked them: “Who are you?” At this point, the three children stopped, but they kept holding each others’ hands and jumping on the floor in a cheerful and lively way. Then, the oldest one of them said, “I’m Kberoon.”
“I’m Azgar”, said the middle one.
“And I’m Zgeroon”, the youngest said.
As soon as the third finished his words, “I’m Zgeroon”, our master – who was still puzzled at the situation – uttered the word ‘Al’lah’, a word that came from a heart that was witnessing its Provider, and then, suddenly, the three children changed into columns of smoke and everything that was there disappeared.
It became so that there was no burner, no washing, no Om Fathi, and no noise or hurly burly.
There was only absolute silence, as if nothing had even been there.
The virtuous master felt worried about his wife Om Fathi, so, barefoot and in a hurry, he went up the stairs. He was heading for the bedroom, where he found that his wife was sleeping. She had been sleeping soundly from the moment she had laid her head on her pillow until that very moment, and perhaps she had not even tossed or turned, or moved from the side on which she lay due to the effort she had exerted and the fatigue she felt from her work the day before.
So she definitely knew nothing about what had happened.
Later, when she woke up a few minutes before sunrise, her husband asked her calmly, not wanting to disturb or dismay her: “Did you get up last night, Om Fathi?”
“No!” she answered, “I felt absolutely nothing, from the time I put my head on my pillow until I woke up to pray before sunrise.”
Nevertheless, Abo Fathi continued to hide this event from his wife for six years more in order not to let her become afraid, due to any whispers or bad ideas that may have come into her mind.
After that night, no more events of that kind occurred in their home ever again, and the haunted house turned into a house that was haunted only by the family’s happiness which spread bliss all over it, which was constantly flowing out of the spirit of that noble man.
Thus, when somebody rightfully resorts to God and really seeks refuge in Him, when they yield and apply His orders, and when they become truly straight, all evils and offenses will be driven away from them as they will be fortified by the fence of their true belief.
In this way, God will protect them as long as they stay within His bounds and keep seeking refuge in Him.
So, those that follow the right path will perform real communication with God, and then the divine states, tastes, gleams, and witnessing will enter their spirits and uplift them to God where they will become cured of their defects and diseases. Then none will have power over them, as they will have become clean and pure.
That is the state of anyone who truly believes in God. God says: “No power has he (Satan) over believers who put their trust in their Provider. He has power only over those who befriend him and those who serve other gods besides Al’lah.”
The Holy Qur’an,
Fortress 16, An-Nahl (The Bees), verse 99-100
Verily there is a great lesson in that for those who want to learn a lesson.