Bi ismillahir rahmanir raheem
assalamu alaikum
The story of Habib the Persian
(Habib al-`Ajami)
Taken from Tadhikurut al-Awliya, by Abu Nu`aym al-Isfahani
Habib ibn Mohammad al-'Ajami al-Basri, a Persian settled at Basra, was a noted
traditionist who transmitted from al-Hasan al-Basri, Ibn Sirrin, and other authorities.
His conversion from a life of ease and self-indulgence was brought about by al-Hasan's
eloquence; he was a frequent attendant at his lectures, and became one of his closest
associates.
Habib to begin with was a man of property and a usurer. He dwelt in Basra, and every
day he made the rounds to collect from his clients. If he got no money, he would demand
payment for his shoe leather. In this manner he covered his daily expenditure.
One day he had gone to look for a certain debtor. The man was not at home; so failing
to find him; he demanded shoe leather payment. "My husband is not at home," the
debtor's wife told him. "I myself have nothing to give you. We had slaughtered a
sheep, but only the neck is left. If you like I will give you that." "That is
something," the usurer replied, thinking that he might at least take the sheep's neck
off her and carry it home. "Put a pot on the fire." "I have neither bread
nor fuel," the woman answered. "Very well," the man said. "I will go
and fetch fuel and bread, and it can be charged to shoe leather." So he went off and
fetched these things, and the woman set the pot. When the pot was cooked the woman was
about to pour its contents into a bowl when a beggar knocked at the door.
"If we give you what we have got," Habib shouted at him, you will not become
rich, and we will become poor ourselves."
The beggar, despairing, petitioned the woman to put something in the bowl. She lifted
the lid of the saucepan, and found that its contents had all turned to black blood.
Turning pale, she hurried back and taking Habib by the hand, led him towards the pot.
"Look what has happened to us because of your cursed usury, and your shouting at the
beggar!" she cried. "What will become of us now in-this world, not to mention
the next?" On seeing this, Habib felt a fire within him which never afterwards
subsided.
"Woman," he said, "I repent of all I have done." Next day he went
out to look for his clients. It happened to be a Friday, and the children were playing in
the street. When they sighted Habib they started to shout. "Here comes Habib the
usurer. Run away, lest his dust settles on us and we become as cursed as he!" These
words hurt Habib very much. He took his way to the meeting ball, and there certain phrases
passed Hasan of Basra's lips which struck Habib straight to the heart, so that be fainted.
Then he repented. Realizing what had happened, Hasan of Basra took him by the hand and
calmed him. As he returned from the meeting he was spotted by one of his debtors, who made
to run away. "Do not run away," Habib called to him. "Till now it was for
you to flee from me; now I must run away from you." He passed on. The children were
still playing. When they sighted Habib they shouted again. "Here comes Habib the
penitent. Run away, lest our dust settles on him, for we are sinners against God."
"My God and Master!" cried Habib. "Because of this one day that I have made
my peace with Thee, Thou hast beaten the drums of men's hearts for me and noised my name
abroad for virtue."
Habib then issued a proclamation. "Whoever wants anything from Habib, come and
take it!" The people gathered together, and he gave away all his possessions so that
he was left penniless. Another man came with a demand. Having nothing left, Habib gave him
his wife's chaddur. To another claimant he gave his own shirt, and remained naked.1
He repaired to a hermitage on the banks of the Euphrates, and there gave himself up to
the worship of God. Every night and day he studied under Hasan, but he could not learn the
Quran, for which reason he was nicknamed the Barbarian (al-`Ajami).2 Time
passed, and he was completely destitute. His wife asked him for housekeeping money
constantly. So Habib left his house and made for the hermitage to resume his devotions.
When night came he returned to his wife. "Where have you been working, not to
bring anything home?" his wife demanded. "The one I have been working for is
extremely generous," Habib replied. "He is so generous that I am ashamed to ask
him for anything. When the proper time comes, he will give. For he says, 'Every ten days I
pay the wages.' " So Habib repaired daily to the hermitage to worship, till ten days
were up.
On the tenth day at the time of the midday prayer a thought entered his mind.
"What can I take home tonight, and what am I to tell my Wife?" And he pondered
this deeply. Straightway Almighty God sent a porter to the door of his house with an
ass-load of flour, another with a skinned sheep, and another with oil, honey, herbs, and
seasonings. The porters loaded up all this. A handsome young man accompanied them with a
purse of three hundred silver dirhams. Coming to Habib's house, he knocked on the door.
"What do you want?" asked Habib's wife, opening the door. "The Master has
sent all this," the handsome youth replied. "Tell Habib, 'You increase your
output, and we will increase your wages."' So saying, he departed. At nightfall Habib
proceeded homeward, ashamed and sorrowful. As he approached his house, the aroma of bread
and cooking assailed his nostrils. His wife ran to greet him and wiped his face and was
gentle with him as she had never been before. "Husband," she cried, "the
man you are working for is a very fine gentleman, generous and full of loving kindness.
See what he sent by the hand of a handsome young man! And the young man said, 'When Habib
comes home, tell him, You increase your output, and we will increase your wages.' Habib
was amazed. "Wonderful!" he exclaimed. "I worked for ten days, and he did
me all this kindness. If I work harder, who knows what he will do?" And he turned his
face wholly away from worldly things and gave himself up to God's service.
The miracles of Habib
One day an old woman came to Habib and, falling at his feet, wept bitterly. "I
have a son who has been absent from me a long time. I can no longer endure to be parted
from him. Say a prayer to God," she begged Habib. "It may be that by the
blessing of your prayer God will send him back to me."
"Have you any money?" Habib asked her. "Yes, two dirhams," she
replied. "Bring them, and give them to the poor." And Habib recited a prayer,
then he said to the old woman, "Be gone. Your son has returned to you."
The old woman had not yet reached the door of her house, when she beheld her son.
"Why, here is my son!" she shouted, and she brought him to Habib.
"What happened?" Habib enquired of him.
"I was in Kerman," the son replied. "My teacher had sent me to look for
some meat. I obtained the meat and was just returning to him, when the wind seized hold of
me. I heard a voice saying,
" 'Wind, carry him to his own home, by the blessing of Habib's prayer and the two
dirhams given in alms.' "
One year on the eighth day of Dhul-Hijja, Habib was seen in Basra and on the ninth day
at Arafat.3
Once a famine was raging in Basra. Habib purchased many provisions on credit and gave
them away as alms. He fastened his purse and placed it under his pillow. When the
tradesmen came to demand payment, he would take out his purse and it was full of dirhams,
which he gave away as loans.4
Habib had a house in Basra on the crossroads. He also had a fur coat which he wore
summer and winter. Once, needing to perform the ritual washing, he arose and left his coat
on the ground. Hasan of Basra, happening on the scene, perceived the coat flung in the
road. "This 'barbarian' does not know its value," he commented. "This fur
coat ought not to be left here. It may get lost." So he stood there watching over it.
Presently Habib returned. "Imam of the Muslims," he cried after saluting Hasan,
"why are you standing here?"
"Do you not know," Hasan replied, "that this coat ought not to be left
here? It may get lost. Say, in whose charge did you leave it?"
"In His charge," Habib answered, "who appointed you to watch over
it."
One day Hasan came to call on Habib. Habib placed two rounds of barley bread and a
little salt before Hasan. Hasan began to eat. A beggar came to the door, and Habib gave
the two rounds and the salt to him.
"Habib," remarked the astonished Hasan, "you are a worthy man. If only
you had some knowledge, it would be better. You took the bread from under the nose of your
guest and gave it all to the beggar. You ought to have given a part to the beggar and a
part to the guest." Habib said nothing. Presently a slave entered with a tray on his
head. A roast lamb was on the tray, together with sweetmeat and fine bread, and five
hundred silver dirhams. He set the tray before Habib. Habib gave the money to the poor,
and placed the tray before Hasan. "Master," he said when Hasan had eaten some of
the roast, "you are a good man. If only you had a little faith, it would be better.
Knowledge must be accompanied by faith."
One day officers of Hajjaj were searching for Hasan.5 He was
hiding in Habib's hermitage.
"Have you seen Hasan today?" the officers demanded of Habib.
"I have seen him," he answered. "Where was he?" "In this
hermitage." The officers entered the hermitage, but for all their searching they did
not find Hasan. ("Seven times they laid their hands on me," Hasan afterwards
related, "but they did not see me.")
"Habib," Hasan remarked on leaving the hermitage, "you did not observe
your duty to your master. You pointed me out."
"Master," Habib replied, "it was because I told the truth that you
escaped. If I had lied, we would both have been arrested." "What did you recite,
that they did not see me?" Hasan asked. "I recited the Throne-verse ten
times," Habib answered. "Ten times I recited The Messenger believes, and ten
times Say, He is God, One. Then I said, 'O God, I have committed Hasan to Thee. Watch over
him."'6
Hasan once wished to go to a certain place. He came down to the bank of the Tigris, and
was pondering something to himself when Habib arrived on the scene. "Imam, why are
you standing here?" he asked. "I wish to go to a certain place. The boat is
late," Hasan replied. "Master, what has happened to you?" Habib demanded.
"I learned all that I know from you. Expel from your heart all envy of other men.
Close your heart against worldly things. Know that suffering is a precious prize, and see
that all affairs are of God. Then set foot on the water and walk." With that Habib
stepped on to the water and departed. Hasan swooned. When he recovered, the people asked
him, "Imam of the Muslims, what happened to you?" "My pupil Habib just now
reprimanded me," he replied. "Then he stepped on the water and departed, whilst
I remained impotent. If tomorrow a voice cries, 'Pass over the fiery pathway'-if I remain
impotent like this, what can I do?" "Habib," Hasan asked later, "how
did you discover this power?" "Because I make my heart white, whereas you make
paper black," Habib replied. "My learning profited another, but it did not
profit me," Hasan commented.
Bibliography
Abu Nu`aym, op. cit., VI, 149-55.
Ibn Hajar, o p. cit., II, 189. Notes on Anecdotes
Notes
1"The Story of Habib": T. A., 1, 49-52. The source
appears to be the account of Habib's conversion in Abu Nu`aym, VI, 149-50, where (as
throughout that article) Persian phrases are quoted.
2The statement that Habib could not learn the Quran is Attar's
explanation of his nickname al-'Ajami (one who cannot speak Arabic); Abu Nu`aym gives his
surname as al-Farsi (the Persian). "The Miracles of Habib": T.A., I, 52-54.
3The statement that Habib miraculously travelled from Basra to
Arafat (near Mecca) in one day is based on Abu Nu`aym, VI, 154.
4The story of the famine is based on Abu Nu`aym, VI, 150; cf.
al-Qushairi, P.198.
5Hajjaj was the notoriously severe governor of Iraq who died in
95 (714).
6The "Throne-verse" is Quran, II, 256. "The
Messenger Believes" is Quran, II, 285. "Say, He Is God, One..."
is Quran, CXII, I.
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Rasul Allah (sallah llahu alaihi wa sallam) said: "Whoever knows himself, knows his Lord" and whoever knows his Lord has been given His gnosis and nearness.
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