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Know, the true nature of your Beloved.
In His loving eyes, your every thought,
Word and movement is always –
Always Beautiful.
~ Hafiz
Ibn Hajar al-Haythami records in his book ‘Al-Fatawa al-Hadithiyya’ that Abu Said Adbullah ibn Abi Asrun, the Shafi Imam said,
“When I began a search for religious knowledge, I accompanied my friend Ibn as-Saqa, who was a student in the Nizamiyya School, and it was our custom to visit the pious. We heard that there was in Baghdad a man named Yusef al-Hamadani who was known as the Arch-Intercessor and that he was able to appear and disappear whenever he liked.
So I decided to visit him along with Ibn as-Saqa and Shaykh Abdul Qadir Gilani, who was a young man at the time.
Ibn as-Saqa said, “When we visit Shaykh Yusef al-Hamadani I am going to ask him a question the answer to which he will not know”.
I said, “I am going to ask him a question and I want to see what he’s going to say.”
Shaykh Abdul Qadir Gilani said, “O God protect me from asking a Saint like Yusef al-Hamadani a question, but I will go into his presence asking for his blessings and Divine knowledge.”
We entered – Shaykh Yusef veiled himself from us and we didn’t see him until after one hour had passed. He looked at Ibn as-Saqa angrily and said, without being informed of his name, “O Ibn as-Saqa, how dare you ask me a question when your intention is to confound me – your question is this and your answer is this. I am seeing the fire of disbelief burning in your heart.” He then looked at me and said, “O Abdullah, are you asking me a question and awaiting my answer – your question is this and your answer is this. Let the people be sad for you because they are losing as a result of your disrespect for me.” Then he looked at Shaykh Abdul Qadir Gilani and said to him, “Approach my son, I am going to bless you. O Abdul Qadir, you have satisfied God and His Prophet with your proper respect for me. I see you in the future sitting on the highest place in Baghdad, speaking and guiding people and saying to them that your feet are on the neck of every Saint. And I see every Saint of your time bowing to you because of your great station and honour.”
Source:- “The Naqshbandi Way – History and Guidebook of the Saints of the Golden Chain”, by Mawlana Shaykh Hisham.