Part 3

Part 3

This disciple gathered his other companions and went to Constantinople. Then all of them together, as a congregation, began to plead with God: reciting remembrance and the Quran, istighfar and salawat, they asked with tears that Allah the Exalted grant their teacher guidance. Worship in this form went on for some time. One day the shaykh’s deputy, that is, that disciple, had a dream: in his dream the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came and said, “O member of my ummah! God has accepted your duas. It is precisely because of your sincerity and your love that God has granted your pir guidance; his reason and understanding have returned to him!”

The disciple woke up rejoicing and weeping. It was the time before dawn.

Indeed, at that very time Shaykh San’an had come to himself and was repenting in tears. The disciples went looking for him and met their teacher. Everyone wept; no one’s tongue could form a word.

The shaykh performed the full ablution (ghusl), said the testimony of faith and entered the religion again; he put on his turban and his cloak and returned to Mecca.

That same day the Christian girl had a dream: Jesus, peace be upon him, said to her, “A friend of Allah came to you, did he not? Why did you humiliate him so? Go after him quickly and enter his religion!”

The Christian girl woke up, mounted one of her father’s horses and galloped off in the dark.

Halfway along the road she caught up with Shaykh San’an, repented in tears for what she had done, said the testimony of faith at the shaykh’s hand and entered the religion, and at that very moment, having come to faith, her soul departed.

The shaykh performed the funeral prayer over her, laid her in the earth, returned to Mecca, and until the end of his life was occupied with guidance and calling people to God.

This story overflows with symbols and meanings. We will mention some of them: 1. The power of love is such that no force exists in the world that can stand against it. 2. No human being is able to cure love; it separates its owner from everything; shame and honor, dignity and nobility are nothing before love. 3. No one, whatever his rank, is safe from ruin; no one’s faith is guaranteed. 4. Between teacher and student, between pir and disciple, there must be loyalty and faithfulness. God grants salvation to anyone because of duas and sincerity. Only those who have true faithfulness can rescue their friends from the pits of baseness through dua. 5. After repentance, no one has the right to remind anyone of their past sins. Rather, repentance returns a person to his former place, and even to a higher rank. 6. The lover who has lost his wits in love for a servant will be ready, on the path of God, for sacrifice in an even stronger form.

Love is a path of deliverance for a person. Outwardly it ruins a person, but it rebuilds him; it is love that establishes unveiling and nearness. Love is a deadly and fearsome valley; the outcome of entering it and walking through it is known to no one.

After all, just as not every lover is called Shaykh San’an, neither has it been said that every lover has someone who prays for him with sincerity.

This was a story that shows what love is.

The end.