The Story of Hazrath Bilal (RA) in the words of Rumi (RA) is an Example Of Faith.
With the name of Allah, most Beneficient, ever Merciful.
When Hazrath Abu Bakar Siddique (RA) heard the cries of “Ahad” (one) and saw the blood spurting out of the wounds caused by the thorny whip, he went to Hazrath Bilal (RA) privately and told him to keep his religion a secret for Allah knows what is in your heart.
Hazrath Bilal (RA) repented and promised to do so but the next day Hazrath Abu Bakar (RA) once again heard his cries of “Ahad” and saw the blood spurt from the wounds inflicted on him.
For three nights The Siddique gave the same advice and for three nights The Bilal repented but still continued to proclaim his faith.
On the forth night the Bilal refused to repent “and proclaimed (his faith) and yielded his body to tribulations crying, “O Muhammad, O enemy of vows of repentance, O you with whom my body and all my veins are filled-how should there be room for repentance: From now on I will banish repentance from this heart of mine: how should I repent of the life of everlasting. Love is the all subduer, and I am subdued by love. By love’s bitterness I have been made sweet as sugar. * Mathnawi 6:895
“Be sure that We shall test you with something of fear and hunger, some loss in goods, lives and the fruits (of your toil) but give glad tidings to those who patiently persevere. Who say when afflicted with calamity: “To Allah do we belong and to Him is our return” They are those on whom (descend) the blessings from their Lord and Mercy, and they are the ones that receive guidance.” 2:155
Hazrath Abu Bakar Siddique (RA) then went to the Master and told him of his desire to purchase Hazrath Bilal (RA). The Master told him that the Jew would demand a heavy price because of your enthusiasm and to avoid this he asked to be made a partner in purchasing him.
Although The Siddique agreed he still went ahead and reprimanded the Jew and finally offered to exchange a handsome Jewish slave in his possession for Hazrath Bilal (RA).
Although the Jew knew he was getting a bargain he asked for more and The Siddique gave him two hundred silver dirhams. “The Jewish slave had a white body but a “black heart” while the Bilal had a “Black body and a white heart.”
When the deal was done, the Jew began to laugh and mock The Siddique saying “Had it not been for the (extraordinary) earnestness and Ardor shown by you in the purchase of this black slave, I would not have wrangled excitedly: Indeed I would have sold him for a tenth of this sum…
Then The Siddique answered him, “O simpleton, thou has given a pearl away for a walnut, like a (silly) boy: for in my opinion he is worth the two worlds: I am regarding his spirit and you are regarding his color….If you had haggled in the sale more (excessively) than you did, then I would have given the whole of my property and riches for him….” Mathnawi 1040
And then came the time for the Bilal to reap the rewards of his firm faith. The Siddique took him to the Master. “When the (sorely) wounded one beheld the face of Mustafa, he fell down in a swoon, he fell on his back. For a long time he remained unconscious and besides himself, he shed tears of joy. Mustafa clasped him to his bosom: how should anyone know the bounty that was bestowed on him…. It was as though a fish parched for want of water fell into the sea…If the words which the Prophet addressed to him at that moment should fall upon the ears of the night, it would cease from being night… “Matnawi 1060 and even Rumi (RA) could not express further (the real meaning) of that mystic allocution.
So this is part of the story of That Bilal who did not renounce his faith even under persecution and how fitting it was that he should be the first one to ascend the minaret to loudly call to the world the message that he was prepared to lay down his life for. A poet says: “mendi brings out its color after being ground” and our murshid always said: “No pain, no gain.”
“So loose not heart. Nor fall into despair: for you must gain mastery if you are true g from your ranks Martyr-witness (to truth) and Allah loves not those that do wrong.” 3:139 END
Peace and Salutations be upon Muhammad Salallahu Alayhe Wasallam.
Published by Anjuman e Waris e Mohammedi in 2011
Anjuman e Waris e Mohammedi was founded by Dr/Hakim Hazrath Khwaja Sayed Shareef Ahmed Ali Shah RA, (lovingly known as Hazrath Poona Wale Shah Saib RA).
Author: Mohammed Hassan Gaffoor (WhatsApp +27849101486)
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