Abu Ishaq Ibrahim bin Adham was born in Balkh & of Arab descent. He is one of the earliest documented great Sufis. He was a King of Balkh who renounced his throne for a spiritual kingdom & wandered to live a life of complete asceticism, earning his bread in Syria by honest manual toil until his death in c. 165 AH (782 AD). According to Arabic & Persian sources like al-Bukhari & others, Ibrahim ibn Adham received a warning from God through Khidr who appeared to him twice & as such, Ibrahim abdicated his throne to take up the ascetic life in Syria. He is described in the Kashf-al-Mahjub, written by Ali Hujwiri (Data Ganj Bakhsh), as "unique in this path; the chieftain of his contemporaries & a disciple of al-Khidr."
When day came he returned to his throne, thoughtful, bewildered & full of care. The ministers of state stood each in his place, his slaves were drawn up in ranks. General audience was proclaimed. Suddenly a man with awful smell entered the room, so terrible to look upon that none dared ask him his name. He advanced solemnly till he stood before the throne.
With these words the stranger vanished. He was Khidr, upon whom be peace. The fire blazed more fiercely in Ibrahim's soul. Ibrahim commanded for his horse to be saddled & thought that if he would go hunting this would take his mind off all of this. His horse was saddled & he proceeded with his troops. He galloped across the desert. It was as if he did not know what he was doing. In this state he became separated from his troops. He then heard a voice "Awake!" He pretended that he did not hear it & rode on. A second time the voice commanded, but he did not listen to it. A third time he heard the same & hurled himself further away. Then the voice sounded a fourth time. "Awake, before you are stricken awake!" He now lost all self-control. At that moment a deer came in front of him & Ibrahim decided to chase it. Suddenly the deer spoke to him & said "I have been sent to hunt you. You cannot catch me. Was it for this that you were created, or is this what you were commanded?"
Ibrahim cried "what is happening to me" & he turned his face from the deer. He then heard the same words from the top of his saddle. He now was terrified. The revelation became clearer yet, for Almighty God willed to complete the transaction. A third time the voice came from the collar of his cloak. The revelation was thus consummated & the heavens were opened unto him.
Faith was now established in him. He dismounted all. His garments & the horse itself, were dripping with his tears. He made true & sincere repentance. As he turned aside from the road, he saw a shepherd wearing felt clothes & a hat of felt, driving his sheep before him. Looking closely, he saw that he was a slave of his. He bestowed on him his gold embroidered cloak & bejewelled cap, together with the sheep & took from him his clothes & hat of felt. These he put on himself.
"What do you want of that heretic?" Ibrahim demanded. Straightway they set upon him & beat him up. "The elders of Mecca go out to meet him & you call him a heretic?" they shouted. "I say he is a heretic," Ibrahim repeated. When they left him, Ibrahim turned to himself.
"Ha!" he cried. "You wanted the elders to come out to meet you. Well, you have collected a few punches. Praise be to God that I have seen you get your wish!” Ibrahim then took up residence in Mecca. A circle of companions formed around him & he earned his bread by the labour of his hands, working as a carpenter.
The son asked them wether they knew Ibrahim bin adham & the Sufi's replied "He is a friend of ours," they told him. "He is entertaining us & has gone to hunt for food." The son asked them to direct him & he went in his track. He saw his father unshod & bareheaded coming along with a load of firewood. Tears sprang to his eyes, but he controlled himself & followed his father to the market. There his father began to shout. "Who will buy goodly things for goodly things?" A baker called to him & took the firewood in exchange for bread. Ibrahim brought the bread & laid it before his companions. Witnessing all of this the son thought that if he would say who he was his father would run away as he had ran away before. He went to ask for advice from his mother. His mother advised him to wait until they performed circumambulation of the holy house of God.
When the pilgrims entered Mecca & made the circumambulation of the Kaaba, Ibrahim with his companions also circled the Holy House. A boy approached him & Ibrahim looked at him keenly. His friends noticed this, but waited until they had finished the circumambulation. They Asked Ibrahim who this boy was. Ibrahim advised "When I left Balkh, "I left a suckling son. I know that the boy is that son."
The next day one of his friends went to look for the caravan from Balkh. As he came closer to it, he saw in the midst of the caravan a tent pitched. In the tent a throne was set, & the boy was seated on the throne, reciting the Quran & weeping. Ibrahim's friend asked if he might enter. "Where do you come from?” he enquired. "From Balkh,” the boy replied. "Whose son are you?" The boy put his hand to his face & began to weep. "I have never seen my father, "he said. "Not until yesterday. I do not know whether it was he or not. I am afraid that if I speak he will run away, as he ran away from us before. My father is Ibrahim-e Adham the King of Balkh.
The man took him to bring him to Ibrahim. His mother also went along with him. As soon as she saw Ibrahim she cried aloud & could not control herself. "This is your father." she said. All the bystanders & friends of Ibrahim bursted into tears. As soon as the boy recovered himself he saluted his father. Ibrahim returned his greeting & took him to his breast. Then Ibrahim would have departed, but the boy would not let go of him. His mother wailed aloud. Turning his face to heaven, Ibrahim cried, "O God, Come to my assistance!" The boy immediately died. When his companions asked Ibrahim about what happened he advised.
When I took him to my breast, love for him stirred in my heart. A voice spoke to me, "Ibrahim, you claim to love Me & you love another along with Me?. Have you attached your heart to that woman & child." When I heard this, I prayed, "Lord of Glory, come to my assistance! He will so occupy my heart that I shall forget to love Thee. Either take away his life or mine." His death was the answer to my prayer."
"Once I was on board ship & the captain did not know me. I was wearing ragged clothes & my hair was untrimmed, I was in a spiritual ecstasy of which all on board were unaware. They laughed at me & ridiculed me. There was a joker on the ship & every now & then he would come & grab me by the hair & pluck it out & slap me on the neck. In those moments I felt that I had attained my desire & was very happy to be so humiliated."
"Suddenly a great wave arose & all feared that they would perish. "We must throw one of these fellows overboard," cried the helmsman. "Then the ship will be lighter." They seized me to throw me into the sea. The wave subsided & the ship resumed an even keel. That moment when they took me by the ear to throw me into the water, I felt that I had attained my desire & was happy."
"On another occasion I went to a mosque to sleep there. They would not let me be & I was so weak & exhausted that I could not get up. So they seized me by the foot & dragged me out. The mosque had three steps; my head struck against each step in turn & the blood flowed forth. I felt that I had attained my desire. On each step that they dropped me, the mystery of a whole clime became revealed to me. I said, ‘Would that the mosque had more steps, to increase my felicity!’"
"On yet another occasion I was wrapped in a fur jacket infested by fleas which devoured me unmercifully. Suddenly I remembered the fine clothes which I had deposited in the treasury. My soul cried within me, "Why, what pain is this?" Then too I felt that I had attained my desire."
Ibrahim was travelling in the desert one day when he was stopped by a soldier. "What are you?" the soldier asked. Ibrahim replied that he was a servant. The soldier asked him where the nearest habitation was. Ibrahim pointed to the graveyard. "You are making fun of me," shouted the soldier, lashing out at Ibrahim’s head. His head was broken & the blood gushed forth. The soldier put a rope round Ibrahim’s neck & dragged him along. People from the nearby town stopped at the spectacle.
"Ignoramus, this is Ibrahim-e Adham, the friend of God," they cried. The soldier fell at Ibrahim’s feet & implored him to pardon him & acquit him of the wrong he had done him. "You told me you were a servant," he pleaded. "Who is there who is not a servant?" Ibrahim replied. "I broke your head & you prayed for me," said the soldier. "I prayed that you might be blessed for the way you treated me," was Ibrahim’s answer. "My reward for the way you treated me was Paradise & I did not wish that your reward should be Hell." "Why did you direct me to the cemetery when I asked the way to habitation?" the soldier asked. "Because every day the graveyard becomes more thronged & the city more deserted," answered Ibrahim.
One day Ibrahim came to a well. He let down the bucket & it came up full of gold. He emptied it & let it down again & it came up full of pearls. In merry mood he emptied it once more. "O God," he cried, "Thou art offering me a treasury. I know that Thou art all-powerful & Thou knowest that I shall not be deluded by this. Give me water, that I may make my ablution."
Quotes & Sayings:
- Three veils must be removed from the traveller’s heart so that the door of happiness is opened to him. First, should the dominion of both worlds be offered to him as an eternal gift, he should not rejoice. The second veil is that if he possesses the dominion of both worlds & should it be taken from him, he should not feel sorry for his poverty. The third is that he should not be misguided by any praise or favour, for one who is misguided like this, is a low person & the low person is veiled.
- If you would like to be a saint of God, then desire not the things of this world or the next. Empty yourself for God. Turn your face to Him so that He may turn to you & make you His saint.
- Wara (abstaining) is the abandonment of whatever is dubious & the abandonment of whatever does not concern you, means abandoning whatever is superfluous.
- I delighted in Islam only three times. One time I was on board of ship & there was a man who laughed often. He would remark; "We used to grab an infidel in the land of the Turks thus," & he would tug at my hair & shake me back & forth. This would please me. Another time I became ill in a mosque. The man who made call to prayer told me to get out, but I could not. So he grabbed me by my foot & dragged me out of the mosque. The third time, I was in Syria & I was wearing fur. I looked at it & I could not distinguish between its hair & the lice, such was their abundance. In "another tale, he reported: "My joy was never greater than the day I was sitting down & a man came & urinated on me." At another occasion, I was sitting & a man came & slapped me.
- A man attains the rank of the righteous only after passing through these six steps:
- He must close the door of bounty & open the door of hardships.
- He must close the door of dignity & open the door of humility.
- He must close the door of comfort & open the door of striving.
- He must close the door of sleep & open the door of vigilance.
- He must close the door of wealth & open the door of poverty.
- He must close the door of worldly expectation & open the door of preparedness for death.
- O God, You know that in my eyes the eight Paradises have little worth when they are compared with that honour which You have shown me in giving Your love or that familiarity which You have given me by the commemoration (dhikr) of Your Name or that freedom from all else which You have granted me when I meditate on the greatness of Your Glory.
- You enjoy the gifts of the Lord, but you do not offer gratitude to Him.
- You do not so act as to avoid Hell & enter Heaven.
- You know the Devil is your enemy but you do not deal with him as such.
- You know death must overtake you but you make no preparation for it.
- You consign your dead parents to the grave & yet you do not take lessons from the incident (& feel as if you are immortal).
- You know that you have many faults, yet you try to find faults within others.
- When you commit a sin against God, do not partake of His food.
- When you desire to commit a sin, get out of His kingdom.
- Commit sin at a place where He cannot see you.
- At the time of death seek a few moments respite from the messenger of death that you might repent during that time for your sins.
- Do not allow the angels Munqir & Naqir to approach you & question you about your past deeds. If you cannot perform this, then vow never to sin.
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