Download PDF: [S] How Close are you to Allah (Islamic story)

Hadrat Sayyiduna Zun Misri – may Allah be pleased with him – narrates, “One day I was walking in an orchard which was lush and green. I saw a young person under an apple tree. I did not know whether he was reading Salaah or not. I then made Salaam to him and he did not answer. I repeated my Salaam, and again he did not answer. He then shortened his Salaah and turning to me, he wrote something on the sand. The words were, ‘The tongue has been restricted because it becomes a means of destruction and something which takes a person towards calamity. Therefore, if you have severed your connection with the world, you should busy yourself with the Dhikr of Allah Almighty. Do not forget Him and praise Him in all conditions.’”

 

When I saw these words, I wept for a long time.

 

He then wrote on the sand, “There is not a writer whose writing would become old and destroyed. As for that which is written through His hands, it will remain forever. Therefore, write something on the palms of your hands which when you see on the Day of Judgement, you would become extremely pleased.”

 

Hadrat Sayyiduna Zun Misri – may Allah be pleased with him – says, “When I read these words, the young man screamed out aloud and passed away. I then wanted to arrange his burial when a Voice called out to me, ‘The people who are in charge of this young man are the Angels’.

 

“I then retired to one corner of this orchard to read my Salaah and when I turned around, I did not see anything or any sign of this young man.”

 

Certainly, Allah Almighty is with His servants in the way the servants think about Him. Someone once asked a Saint about how close the creation was to Allah, the Saint replied, “Do not ask this question, ask how close you are to Allah.”