Download PDF: [S] His Desire to eat sweet Pomegranate (Islamic story)

Hadrat Sayyiduna Ebrahim bin Adham – may Allah be pleased with him – relates:

 

I once departed to perform the Hajj and during the journey, it became extremely cold. I then sought refuge inside a nearby cave. A few minutes later, I saw a huge lion entering the cave. When the lion saw me, it began to speak. It asked me, “Who allowed you to enter my house without anyone’s permission?”

 

I replied, “I am traveller and my goods have also been depleted. Tonight I will remain in this place as your guest.”

 

After hearing my words, this lion then retired to one corner of the cave and it slept next to me the entire night. I also spent the entire night reciting the Qur’an. In the morning as I began to leave, this lion looked at me and said, “O Ebrahim! Do not be surprised and do not tell everyone that you spent the night with a lion. I swear by Allah Almighty that I have not eaten anything for three days now and if you were not my guest, I would have surely eaten you.”

 

I then gave thanks to Allah Almighty and departed from this cave.

 

After completing the Hajj, I then retired to a secluded place to continue making the Ibadah of Allah Almighty. At the same time, my Nafs had also wanted to eat a pomegranate for a long time and I continued to dissuade my Nafs from eating a pomegranate. This had continued for nearly twenty years. One night, my heart said to me, “If you do not satisfy your Nafs, then certainly it would create laziness within you. I then said that when I enter any inhabited area, I will satisfy the hunger of the Nafs.”

 

I then left and walked in a barren area. I saw a tree. I approached it and noticed that it was a pomegranate tree. There were plenty of pomegranates on this tree. I broke one pomegranate and noticed that it was extremely sour. I broke four of them and all of them were extremely sour. My Nafs kept telling me that I wanted to eat sweet pomegranate.

 

I went towards an inhabited area. I found a person in an orchard and asked him for a pomegranate. When he gave me one of these fruits, I also noticed that it was extremely sour and bitter. When I asked this person about it, he replied, “O Ebrahim! Whatever your Nafs wishes for, you seem to be able to obey it. I swear by Allah Almighty that I have been in this orchard for nearly forty years, yet, until today, I cannot tell which is sweet and which is sour and which is bitter.”

 

I became surprised by this answer and continued on my journey. I met a young man who was full of sickness. He seemed to have sores and pimples on his body and even his flesh seemed to be falling in certain places. He was saying, “Praise be to Allah Almighty who has given me goodness from that which you suffer from and has certainly given me greatness over other creatures.”

 

I was extremely surprised by this statement and asked him, “What can be a greater test than that which you are going through?”

 

He then looked at me and said, “O Ebrahim! It is better to suffer from this than to wish for pomegranate. However, I am also aware that you are such a slave who has been placed into a test. In other words, whatever you wish for, Almighty Allah, in His Divine Wisdom, has decreed the opposite. This is the reason that the fruits which were sweet became bitter and sour.”

 

When I heard these words, I fell unconscious. When I regained my senses, I asked the young man that when this is his greatness and esteem in the Divine Court of Allah Almighty why does he not make Du’a in the Divine Court of Allah Almighty for this sickness to be removed. He replied, “O Ebrahim! Almighty Allah is able to decree whatever He wishes for His slaves. Whatever He wishes, that is what happens. He also places the person in a test to see what type of reaction and behaviour is displayed by the slave. O Ebrahim! I also swear that even if Almighty Allah decrees that one of my joints be cut off, still I would increase in my love for Him.”

 

I then departed from this place. (Al Qalyubi)