56. Allah and His angels send blessings on the Prophet: O ye that believe!

Send ye blessings on him, and salute him with all respect. [Al-Ahzab (33:56)]

Sunday, April 29, 2007

A frightening dream

It was during the period of Caliph Harun Al-Rashid. A number of individuals once wrote a letter to the Caliph. The letter stated: “Oh Guardian of the Believers! We are your subjects. We hail from respectable families. Some of us are Islamic scholars; others have distinguished themselves by memorizing the Holy Qu’ran. Your ascension to power is based entirely on the extraordinary sacrifice and contribution of our forefathers. Yet today, we are poor because the Guardian of the Believers spends most of the public funds for his personal gratification. We will lodge complaint to Almighty Allah Subhanahu Wa Tala'a if we are further deprived of our rightful share of the public funds. Allah Subhanahu Wa Tala'a will appoint a Caliph who will be very kind to the Muslims.”

Caliph Harun Al-Rashid became extremely fearful and concerned after receiving this letter. His wife Zubaida asked the Caliph about his concerns. The Caliph mentioned the letter to her. The wife said that as the Guardian of the Believers, the Caliph should strictly follow the policy of his predecessors. The wife further stated that there was no doubt that the public funds rightly belonged to all Muslims and that the Caliph took more from such funds than was necessary.

During this time, both the Caliph and his wife had an amazing dream one night in which they saw that Qiyamah or The Day of Judgment had taken place. In the dream, everyone was entering Jannat at the intercession of the Beloved Prophet (sallallahu alaihe wa sallam). The Caliph and his wife had been ordered not to enter Jannat because they used public funds for personal purposes and had deprived those who needed the money most.

After this frightening dream, both the Caliph and his wife distributed public funds amongst the Muslims. A canal called Nehar-e-Zubaida (Canal of Zubaida) was also constructed at this time.

Caliph Harun Al-Rashid breathed his last on 24th March, A.D. 808.