Month: January 2023

Al Tirmidhi in his Sahih reports that once when the Prophet (5) sat down to eat a fowl that had been prepared for his dinner, he prayed to God: “My God, bring the most beloved of Your creatures, that he may eat this fowl with me.” Then Ali (AS) came and the Prophet ate with him.

● ● ● Abu Nuaym in Hilyah, vi, 339; ● al Hakim in Mustadrak, iii, 130, 131; al Khatib in Tarikh Baghdad, ii, 171; al Muhibb al Tabari in al Riyad al Nadirah, ii, 160, 161, and Dhakha’ir al?-uqba, 61; al Haythami in Majma al Zawa’id, ix, 125, 126; al Muttaqi in Kanz al Ummal, iv, 406; Ibn al Athir in Usd al Ghabah, iv, 30.

Cases Wherein His Knowledge of Geometry was Displayed 1. The Weight of a Fetter

Two men saw a slave walking through a street with a fetter on one of his feet. One of the men said:

“The weight of the fetter on the foot of the slave is so much and if it was not my wife stands divorced.”

The other man suggested that the weight of the fetter was different one and he also made a bet that if the weight thereof was that which was suggested by his companion his wife would stand divorced.

Agreeing to the bet they both went to the master of the slave and requested him to take out the chain from the foot of his slave so that it could be weighed. They also mentioned

to him the bet they had made.

The master of the slaves when heard of the bet he told the two men that he had taken an oath that the fetter would be removed from the foot of the slave after completion of a certain period of time and that if he removed it before the expiry of that period of time his wife would also stand divorced. Therefore, he said, he could not remove the fetter from the foot of his slave before the expiry of that period of time.

When the case was taken to HazratOmar (RA) he ordered the two men who had made the bet to divorce their wives, because he could not order the master of slave to remove the fetter from the foot of his slave before the expiry of the period of time in question under any rule or practice of human society or under any clause of the religious law.

When Hazrat Ali (A) heard of this decision of Hazrat Omar (RA) in the case in question by the two men who had gone to him with an appeal, he said to them that it was quite easy to take the weight of the fetter without removing it from the foot of the slave.

He then sent for a big pot open on all sides and deep enough to contain sufficient water for drowning the foot and the fetter of the slave therein.

When the slave put his foot with the fetter thereon in the pot containing the fixed quantity of water, the water rose to a certain point in the pot which was marked.

When the fetter of the slave was raised towards the knee of the slave with the help of thread tied to it, the level of water fell down to a certain point in the pot, which was also

duly marked under the orders of Hazrat Ali (A).

Then he ordered for putting iron dust in the pot slowly and gradually so that the water could rise to the first mark. There after, he ordered the slave to take out his foot from the pot to let the water fall down to its original level in the pot where after he ordered the weighing of the iron-dust saying that that was the weight of the fetter. (Tehzibul Ahkam; Biharul Anwar, vol. 9, p. 465).

2. How He Weighed An Iron Gate

Once a dispute arose between some persons who had ordered for an iron gate and the blacksmith who had made it about the weight of the iron used therein. The man who had ordered for it said it was not the weight he had ordered for whereas the blacksmith said that it was. They could not obviously weigh such a huge gate there being no means available then to weigh such big things as there are today When the case was taken to Hazrat Ali (A) for a decision between the two opposite parties, he ordered them to place the gate on a boat and mark the point to which the water of tpe river rose on either side of the boat. The gate was then removed from the boat and some bags full ordates were loaded on the boat allowing the water to rise upto the point of her sides to which it had risen under the weight of the gate. He (A) then ordered them to weigh the bags of the dates in an ordinary scale and find out the weight of the gate thereby, because, he (A) said the weight of the gate would be the same as that of the weight of the total number of bags of the dates.

FULLFILLING THE NEED OF PETITIONERS HUMOROUS INCIIIIDENT THAT REVEALED SARKAR WARIS’ OVER GENEROUS NATURE

Our Saint never disappointed anyone who came with their various requests. While our saint was camping at Shikohabad during the night poor “purdahdar” ladies visited him to pay their respects. When they departed Babu Kanhyalal Warisi, a vakil of Aligarh and others entered the Saint’s room where they were astonished to see him completely naked except for a loin cloth. The room was bereft of carpets, coverlets, bed-sheets and even tahbands. When questioned what he had done with them his cool reply was the ladies asked and I parted with them”

There are many instances of such profuse liberality, an inherent quality grand and unique, inherited from his forefathers, generation after generation. In short his exalted attributes were not solely based on this quality but every part of his being was a nosegay (bouquet) of his sterling qualities and a collection of his blessings. Since he was always absorbed in pursuit of perfect love, in contemplation and communion with his lord, his whole being was saturated with effects of his special qualities. Even his face was gifted with these attributes and was a mirror of spiritual concern and aspiration, to guide erring humanity to the right path of rectitude. His body was symmetrical and imposing. Though his stature was normal his features were so commanding that they were recognizable even amongst a sea of human faces. This distinguishing quality was not momentary but everlasting, a hereditary gift from his forefathers and descendants of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon Him).