Master Abul Hassan Khirqani 

Before starting on a journey once some pilgrims approached Abul Hassan and asked him what they were to do if on the way the robbers attacked them. "Remember me on the occasion," said Abul Hassan. When on the way the caravan was attacked by robbers, all the pilgrims were looted save the man who remembered Abul Hassan. On his remembering Abul Hassan, he appeared before him and disappeared with all his goods from the sight of the robbers and thus his articles were saved. On return the pilgrims went to Abul Hassan and asked him how it was that they prayed to the Lord and were not saved, but their companion prayed to him and he was saved. Abul Hassan replied, "You people pay lip-service to the Lord, but I remember Him with all my heart. So if you remember me I shall remember God on your behalf with the whole of my heart and your wishes will be fulfilled, whilst if you shall simply move your lips whilst your heart shall remain untouched, your prayer will not produce the least effect."

Abul Hassan told one of his favorite disciples, "To the world Bayazid is dead, but for me he is still alive and knows all my activities."

A disciple of Abul Hassan sought permission to go to Iraq to study the Traditions [which contain the incidents of the life of the Noble Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace)] as there was no competent teacher to be found in that place. Hassan said, "I shall teach them to you as I have learnt them from the Prophet himself." The disciple doubled the words of his preceptor. But when he slept, the Noble Prophet appeared to him in a dream and told him that what Hassan said was true. When the disciple started the study, Hassan would often remark that a particular incident was wrongly ascribed to the beloved Prophet. The disciple asked on what authority he doubled the passage of the Traditions. Hassan said, "All the time the beloved Prophet is before me when I am teaching you, and when a wrong statement occurs in respect of him, a mark of displeasure appears of his face from which I know that the passage is incorrectly recorded.

Once Hassan joined Sama (spiritual music performance) in the house of a devotee of the Lord. In it he was lost in ecstasy and in that condition struck his foot thrice to the ground. As a result the walls of the house began to shake and the people felt as if the walls were dancing with him as also the earth. When on recovery he was asked the reason for acting the way he did, he replied, "Sama is for those who, when in its midst, are transported into higher regions of spirituality, and all veils are withdrawn and they can see the occurrences of the realm of the Angels."

One day Hazrat Abu Said, a reputed Saint, came to see Abul Hassan. In the midst of the conversation, in his ecstatic overflow, Abul Hassan embraced the Saint. On reaching home Abu Said passed the whole night in meditation, seated on his knees and often shrieking in his ecstasies. In the morning Abu Said came to Abul Hassan and entreated him to take back the spiritual spark that he had kindled in him through his embrace, as he was not so advanced as to endure that state. Abul Hassan again embraced him and he was his normal self again.

Once Abul Hassan told Abu Said, "I make you a spiritual adept inasmuch as you were bestowed by Almighty Allah on me on my request to give me a companion with whom I could discuss my spiritual experiences. And I shall thanks the Lord for fulfilling my wish."

Shaikh Abu Sina came from a distant home on a visit to Abul Hassan. On his knocking at his door, the wife of Abul Hassan appeared. She called him a heretic and asked him not to call her husband, who had gone to the jungle to collect fuel-wood. Abu Sina went in search of Abul Hassan and saw that a lion was carrying on its back the bundle of the fuel-wood, which Abul Hassan had collected. Abu Sina bowed before the Shaikh and during the course of the conversation asked Abul Hassan why his wife was so impertinent as to call him a heretic. Abul Hassan replied that if he could not put up with such a rascal sheep, this lion would not submit to his behests. Both passed the night in spiritual talk. In the morning as Abul Hassan was repairing the wall of his house, the piece of wall he was holding in his hands fell down and before he could get down to fetch it or Abu Sina would give it to him, it flew and reached his hands. Abu Sina’s faith in Abul Hassan was made firm and all his doubts about his spiritual greatness vanished.

One day a person came to Abul Hassan with the request to hand over his apron to him, so that by donning it he might also pass for Abul Hassan. Abul Hassan asked, "Can a woman by donning the garments of a man become a male, or a male by donning the garments of a woman, become a female?" He answered in the negative. "Then," said Abul Hassan, "If that is not permissible, how can you, by donning my garments, become like me?"

A priest asked Abul Hassan to deliver a sermon to him. Abul Hassan said, "By all means call people to God, but never invite them to yourself." Seeing him surprised, Abul Hassan explained the matter thus, "If a priest becomes envious of a fellow priest who is pursuing a profession similar to his (namely inviting people to God), it means that he does not invite people to God himself or, else, what could be the reason for his envy?"

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