An Incident with Abdullah Bin Mubarak رحمة الله عليه

An Incident with Abdullah Bin Mubarak رحمة الله عليه

Abdullah bin Mubarak رحمة الله عليهwas an eminent jurist, scholar of Hadith and Sufi of high calibre. He was a contemporary of Imam Abu Hanifah رحمة الله عليه., and his student too. Before he turned to religion he was a very rich and free-thinking man. He had many properties, including gardens but he was not interested in learning or religion. He was an alcoholic much interested in singing and dancing. Among his gardens, he also had apple gardens. Once he took his friends to one such garden when the apples were ready to pick. There they had plenty of food and wine together with the fresh apples, and music. He himself was a good musician and played the musical instruments very well. They had satiated themselves with food and were deeply intoxicated, the atmosphere was pleasent, 'Abdullah bin Mubarak u^^ had a guitar in his hands and he played it. Suddenly he fell asleep. When he woke up, he still had the guitar in his hands. He began to play it again but it would not work. It did not produce any sound. So, he fiddled with the threads and wires and tried again but it did not emit any sound. He tried it a third time after some more fiddling with it. This time it did work but. instead of producing music, it reproduced the sound of he following verse of the Qur'an:-

لَمۡ يَاۡنِ لِلَّذِيۡنَ اٰمَنُوۡۤا اَنۡ تَخۡشَعَ قُلُوۡبُهُمۡ لِذِكۡرِ اللّٰهِ وَمَا نَزَلَ مِنَ الۡحَـقِّۙ

Has not the time yet come for those who believe, and their hearts should be humble for the remembrance of Allah and the Truth (Hadid. 57:16)

The guitar gave out this sound. When Allah wishes to guide any of His servants then He provides such unseen means too. The moment Abdullah bin Mubarak رحمة الله عليه heard this voice, his heart accepted the Truth, and he an sweed the words of the verse  بلی یارب قدان{ Surely, my Lord! It has arrived!"} Then and there, he repented and gave up singing and wine, and felt an urge to seek knowledge. He began acquiring it and became such a great scholar that he was regarded an authority on Hadith. He had the honour of being a student of Imam Abu Hanifa رحمة الله عليه He is cited in Hadith and jurisprudence and is placed as a great Sufi.