Ibrahim ibn Adham

Ibrahim ibn Adham was the king of a province called Balkh in northeastern Persia in the 8th century. It is said that at the beginning of his career he was so wealthy that his soldiers wore shields of gold, and his palace was of a splendor and grandeur unparalleled in history. There are many accounts of Ibrahim ibn Adham’s travels and exploits. Not all stories can be attributed with certainty to Ibrahim ibn Adham, but all the stories have something to teach, all have a moral, and all have a wisdom.

Ibrahim ibn Adham was the king of a province called Balkh in northeastern Persia in the 8th century. It is said that at the beginning of his career he was so wealthy that his soldiers wore shields of gold, and his palace was of a splendor and grandeur unparalleled in history. There are many accounts of Ibrahim ibn Adham’s travels and exploits. Not all stories can be attributed with certainty to Ibrahim ibn Adham, but all the stories have something to teach, all have a moral, and all have a wisdom.

The longing for the divine

There is something inside all of us that yearns. Exactly what we yearn for can be difficult to put into words. How is it possible to describe a longing for something that is infinite, uncreated, and absolute? According to Islam, Allah (God) helps us on our way by illuminating the path we must take to achieve that longing. The path is illuminated by sending messengers with His light.

Man uses language as a tool to understand the world. With the help of language, one can step back from the world and reflect on it from a distance. The reason we have been given can thus do what it was created for, namely to ponder, categorize and compare the world. Language is used to explain the world, it develops over time, and it varies from place to place and society to society. It is therefore subjective and dependent. So how to describe God who is independent of everything in an objective way without doing injustice to Him. This is perhaps the reason why when God himself describes himself in words through his messengers, He adds; “If all the trees on the earth were pens, and if the sea, and seven oceans besides, were ink, the words of Allah would not be exhausted. Allah is Mighty, Wise.” [Quran 31:27] Is it then possible for man to ever truly know his Creator? Is there any purpose in searching? Yes, say those who have found Him.

In search of absolute love, man has never given up. As long as we have been on earth, we have been searching for our Creator. But not everyone has been able to detach themselves from the apparent security of everyday life and step out into the unknown in search of Him. Not everyone has what it takes. When one of us takes such a step, one who gives up everything in his life, to set out to wander in the forests for the truth, our interest is captured. We become interested in such a person, and we want to see if that person’s striving bore fruit or if everything was in vain. This is because we ourselves have a desire and hope to one day have enough courage to detach ourselves from our worldly bonds, or at least not feel tied to the world, and set out to find ourselves and thus our Creator. Ibrahim bin Adham dared to do this, and he found, and thus captured the interest of hundreds of thousands who remained.

Ibrahim ibn Adham has been admired by many. Through his stories, hundreds of thousands of Muslims and non-Muslims have awakened the longing for the divine that has led them on the right path, the path that He has prepared for them joy. Through his travels, Ibrahim ibn Adham experiences incredible things that one by one give him new wisdom. He eventually becomes a Sufi master and one of God’s close friends.

Sheikh Junaid Baghdadi, who is considered the king of all spiritual sheikhs throughout the ages, may Allah be pleased with him, said about Ibrahim ibn Adham: “It is Ibrahim ibn Adham who holds the key to every knowledge of the spiritual journey to Allah.”

The King of Balkh

Ibrahim ibn Adham was the king of Balkh, which was a province of Persia. One night while he was sleeping in his room filled with gold, silver, silk, and other precious articles, he was awakened by someone moving on the roof. He called out for his soldiers, but was astonished that no one answered his call. Ibrahim ibn Adham then approached the person on the roof and asked who he was, and what he was doing on his roof in the middle of the night.

“I am looking for my camel!” the man replied.

“How did your camel end up on the roof of my castle?” Ibrahim ibn Adham asked in astonishment and in a sharp voice.

“My searching for your camel on your roof is as crazy as what you are doing. You are searching for the divine while surrounded by luxury in your palace.”

“This is not an inn or motel! This is my palace,” Ibrahim ibn Adham said, clearly offended.

“Who lived here before you?” asked the man on the roof, not caring that Ibrahim ibn Adham was irritated.

“My father” said Ibrahim ibn Adham.

“And before him again?”

“My grandfather”

“And before him again?”

Thus the man on the roof continued to ask until Ibrahim ibn Adham had explained who had lived here for several generations before him.

“Where is it now?”

“They are all dead now,” replied Ibrahim ibn Adham.

“If it is the case that people come and go from this house to make room for someone else, I do not understand why you are so attached to this place. This is nothing but a den or an inn,” said the man on the roof and disappeared. It is said that this man on the roof was Hadhrat Khidr, may Allah be pleased with him.

The Revival

Ibrahim ibn Adham could not quite believe that this had really happened to him. Had it all been a dream? He decided to go hunting. During the hunt, while chasing an antelope, Ibrahim ibn Adham was separated from his companions. As he approached the antelope, the antelope stopped, turned around, and said in a friendly voice, “Is this what you were created for? Or is this what you were commanded to do?” Even today, these words are used in the Islamic world to make people seduced by the temptation of life to stop and think for a moment.

It was at this moment that Ibrahim ibn Adham decided to turn around, submit to the will of Allah and follow in the footsteps of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). He gave up his entire kingdom and became an apprentice to Hadhrat Fazeel bin Ayaz. Hadhrat Fazeel bin Ayaz was a Sufi saint, who had trusted in Allah as the perfect Friend and Protector and plunged into His ocean of love with his eyes closed. And when he opened his eyes he found himself in complete happiness and security, and he realized that even though he had drowned in His ocean of love, he was more alive than he had ever been before. God does not abandon anyone who puts his trust in Him.

Hadhrat Fazeel bin Ayaz had been a feared robber. One day a merchant was about to embark on a journey through the territory of Hadhrat Fazeel bin Ayaz. People warned him not to go. But the merchant replied that he had heard that Fazeel bin Ayaz was a man who feared Allah, even with all his atrocities.

Throughout the journey, this merchant recited the Holy Quran. When he reached the place where Hadhrat Fazeel bin Ayaz was hiding, he was reciting the following from the Quran: “Has not the time come for those who believe that their hearts should be humbled to the remembrance of Allah and the truth which He has revealed, lest they become like those who were given the Scripture before them, to whom time was prolonged and their hearts hardened, so many of them became sinners.” [57:16]

When Hadhrat Fazeel bin Ayaz heard this, he realized that the time had come for him to turn his life around. This was the turning point for the feared robber, who became Hadhrat Fazeel bin Ayaz, beloved by all and a close friend of God, and the teacher of Ibrahim ibn Adham.

The walk

One day while Ibrahim ibn Adham was in the forest, the devil came to him in the form of an old man and tried to scare him by telling him about all the dangers in the forest and how difficult it would be for him to survive without any means of transportation, money or food. Ibrahim ibn Adham understood that this must be Satan [shaitan] and responded by throwing away the little silver coins he still had from his pocket.

Ibrahim ibn Adham wandered in the forest for 4 years. It was also during this period that Ibrahim ibn Adham met and apprenticed under the Prophet Khidr, may Allah be pleased with him. It was the Prophet Khidr, may Allah be pleased with him, who taught Ibrahim ibn Adham the attributes of God [ism Allah] and led him to great spiritual heights.

Ibrahim ibn Adham renounced materialism completely [zuhd]. He rose above prestige, reputation, and rank, and he saw everything in the world as originating and controlled by Allah. In such a state, it is impossible to be proud or arrogant, as everything one does and achieves is in reality the work of Allah and cannot be attributed to oneself. But it requires great striving [jihad] and proper guidance to reach such a state.

It is obligatory for every Muslim to purify his heart. One should purify his heart from negative traits such as jealousy, stinginess, love of this world, not trusting in Allah to provide for him, etc. One’s exterior should reflect one’s interior, and both should be good. How one does this is less important as long as it is done within the limits of Islamic law [Sharia]. But one should be prepared to trample on one’s ego and fight against one’s desires. “Do not disgrace me on the Day when all will be resurrected, the Day when neither wealth nor children will benefit except him who comes to Allah with a pure heart.” [26: 87-89]

Someone asked if Ibrahim ibn Adham ever got his wish fulfilled? Ibrahim ibn Adham replied, “Yes, twice. Once I was in a boat. I was wearing old clothes, rags, my hair was long, unkempt and dirty. I was in such a state that everyone in the boat either laughed at me or felt sorry for me. One person in particular in the boat would come up to me at regular intervals and pull my hair to insult me. This person would go so far as to dump his water on me. This continued until I reached a joy that was beyond anything I had ever felt.

The second time I was also wearing rags, it was cold and raining. I came to a mosque in a village, where I was refused entry. I went from mosque to mosque, but everyone refused me entry. The cold crept right into my smaller organs. I was humiliated, and when I could not handle the cold any longer, I sought shelter by a fire that was heating water for a bath. I tried to warm myself by the fire. The smoke went from under me up my shirt and out from the collar. I and my clothes became completely black with soot. That night I also had my wish fulfilled.”

Knowledge

Ibrahim ibn Adham also studied under Imam Abu Hanifa, may Allah be pleased with him. Imam Abu Hanifa is the founder of the Hanafi school of law. The Imam was the first to categorize and create a methodology for deducing situational solutions from the holy scriptures. The Imam also had a great influence on Imam Shafi and Imam Malik, both founders of other schools of law.

Times have changed, while the stories of Ibrahim ibn Adham will always be relevant to every age. Ibrahim ibn Adham’s wisdom is referred to by scholars to this day. Hadhrat Sheikh Muhammad Ali Hajweri has written about Ibrahim ibn Adham in his masterpiece Kashf al-Mahjoob, and there are Sufi orders [tariqa] that are based on Ibrahim ibn Adham. Man has been the same throughout the ages, he has felt the same desires and the same longing for power, wealth and eternal life without being held accountable for his actions. While the reality is that “He is not accountable for what He does, but they are accountable” [21:23]

One day while Ibrahim ibn Adham was in a market in the city of Basra in Iraq, he was surrounded by a crowd who said: “And your Lord says, ‘Pray to Me, I will answer you.’” [40:60], we pray to the Lord but we are not heard. Ibrahim ibn Adham replied that the reason for that was that their hearts had died, and the reason can be summarized in 10 points. They asked him what the 10 reasons were, and he replied:

1. You have accepted Allah without fulfilling His requirements.
2. You recite the Holy Quran without putting its laws into practice.
3. You love the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, but you oppose the Prophet’s family.
4. You claim to consider Satan your enemy, while in reality you are at peace with him.
5. You claim to want paradise, but you do nothing to achieve it.
6. You claim to be afraid of Hell and its Fire, while in reality you have jumped into it.
7. You have been busy criticizing others, while you have been unaware of your own faults.
8. You claim that you do not love this world, but you run after it with greed.
9. You acknowledge the reality of death, but you do not prepare for it.
10. You bury your dead, but you don’t learn from it.

May Allah the Most Gracious be pleased with Hadhrat Ibrahim ibn Adham. And peace be upon Prophet Muhammad, his family, his descendants and all Muslims until the Day of Judgment.