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It was the
practice of Ibrahim Khawas (mercy be upon him) that whenever
he set out on a journey to some place he neither informed
anybody nor did anyone have any knowledge of it. All he took
with him was a water cistern which he would use for whudu.
Hamid Aswad (mercy be upon him) said,''Once I was in his
company, sitting in the mosque when he took his water cistern
and set out. I followed him. When we reached Qadsiya he asked
me. ''Hamid ! where do you intend to go?'' I replied, ''I
intend to visit the sacred city of Mecca.'' And further
added, ''I shall, if Allah so Wills.'' After three days
journeying, another young man joined us. He traveled a day
and night but did not observe a single prayer. I informed
Ibrahim of this. Ibrahim later asked the young man, ''Why
have you not observed the prayers?'' He replied, ''The prayer
is not obligatory on me.'' He asked, '' why? Are you not a
Muslim?'' He answered, ''I am a Christian and in
Christianity, I spend the time reposing my trust in God. My
inner self had whispered that I had become perfect in the
matter of trust. ''I refuted his claim and brought him to the
wilderness, with the intention of testing his claim. Ibrahim
however said nothing but walked on and advised me not to
interfere and allow him to travel with us. He traveled on
with us until we reached Battan Mard. There, Ibrahim asked
the Christian, ''What is your name?'' He replied, ''My name
is Abdul Masih! This is now the boundary of Mecca. The
Almighty has prohibited the entry for those who scribe
partners to Him''. Furthermore he recited to him a verse from
the Qur'an; the translation of which means:
"Those, who ascribe partners to Allah, are unclean. They
should not even come near the Sacred Mosque.
"The outcome of
the test you wanted to give to your inner self is already
apparent to you. So you should not enter Mecca. If we happen to
see you there we will object to your presence. Hamid says, "We
left him there and moved forward. We reached the sacred city of
Mecca. As we passed by -Arafat, we saw Abdul Masih there;
donned in the lhram. He came to us and fell down at the feet of
Ibrahim. Ibrahim asked him, "O Abdul Masih! What happened to
you?" He asked Ibrahim not to call him by this name, as he was
not the servant of the Masih but a slave of that Being whose
slave was also the Masih (Peace be upon him). Ibrahim then
asked him what had brought this change on. He related, ", I sat
down at the place where you left me. When another caravan of
Muslims passed by, I could not help myself noticing the simple
white garments in which they were dressed. Overcome by this, I
decided to wear one too and joined them in their company. On
reaching the sacred city of Mecca I saw the House of Allah. At
once my previous beliefs had paled into insignificance. I
washed myself, became a Muslim and adopted the Ihram. I have
been looking for you since the morning.'' Thereafter, he
remained together with us until he breathed his last.
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