Man who Betrayed a Trust

Date: 23/9/2013
Location: Kausar Nagar – Bangalore – Karnataka

I was going to take the train to Belgaum in the state of Karnataka, accompanied by a caliph called Jalāl who is very active in serving the Ṭarīqa and preaching. I had given him the preaching license a year earlier. Jalāl had sold a house and received the amount in full, but before we travelled he complained to me. He had asked a blind man to live in that house as a guard, but the man was now refusing to leave the house unless Jalāl gave him the equivalent of five thousand US dollars. Jalāl was sad and did not know what to do. I advised him to go to the authorities, but he said that he could not, because the tenancy agreement between them was not genuine, which is common practice in India. If the man took that agreement to the authorities, they would fine Jalāl the same amount that the man was demanding.

I felt sad for Jalāl and asked him to leave me alone with my Shaikh. Both caliph ʿAbd al-Bashīr and his son Muḥammad Dhākir stayed with me. I stood in front of the photo of the Shaikh and said:

Beloved! I love this man because he works hard for the Ṭarīqa! I am travelling for preaching and I want the blind man to leave the house before I return from my journey. Beloved! Please do not embarrass me with people!

I kissed the ground under the photo and then read the chapter of Fātiḥa as a present to the Shaikhs of the Ṭarīqa. About two hours later when we were on the train, the blind man phoned Jalāl’s wife, who accompanied us for preaching. After she told her husband about the call, Jalāl came to me crying with happiness because the blind man had decided to leave the house after seeing a dream that scared him.

When we returned from the preaching journey four days later, I asked my companions to invite the blind man. When I met him he told me that he had taken the pledge but was not a practicing dervish. He did not even do the daily prayers. I asked him to tell me about his decision to give the house back. This is what he had to say:

I felt tired and had a headache after the night prayer so I decided to go to bed, although I do not usually sleep this early. As soon as I slept, I heard walking feet. The sound was like iron walking on iron, and it scared me. A man then appeared and said: “Return the house to Jalāl, otherwise I will take your soul right now. Do you know who I am?” I could not utter a word, so I asked him silently about his identity. He said: “I am Shaikh Muḥammad al-Kasnazan.” He then hit me so hard on my chest that I could hardly breathe. Had I not opened my eyes, I would have died.

I asked him to give me the tenancy agreement and take his stuff out of the house. I gave him a present of eleven thousand rupees.

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