Sayings and Stories of the Awliyaa

This is a short Waaqi`ah (Story) told by Imaam Abu Yusuf رحمة الله عليه on the Firaasat (Fore-sight) of Imaam-e-A`zam Abu Haneefah رحمة الله عليه:

"My father died when I was little and my mother placed me with a bleacher. But I used to pass by (Imaam) Abu Haneefah's circle and sit there. My mother would follow me, take me by the hand away from the gathering and return me to the bleacher's shop. Then I would escape again and, against her wishes, sit with (Imaam) Abu Haneefah رحمة الله عليه. One day she had had enough and went to him, shouting, "This boy is an orphan with nothing to his name except what I feed him from my spinning, and you are spoiling him and causing my ruin!" Imaam Abu Haneefah رحمة الله عليه said, "Woman, be quiet! He is right here, acquiring `Ilm, and he shall be feasting on flour and honey pastries (Faaloodhaj) with pistachio butter in dishes of turquoise (Fayroozaj)!" She replied, "You are an old man who has lost his senses!"

Many years later, when I became a judge, I was with [Haaroon] ar-Rasheed one day when they brought flour and honey pastry in a dish of turquoise and Haaroon said to me, "Eat from this!" Seeing this, I smiled. When he pressed me to say why, I told him what (Imaam) Abu Haneefah رحمة الله عليه had said (so many years ago). He replied, "Truly, `Ilm raises one's status both in this Dunyaa and in the Aakhirah. May Allaah have mercy on Abu Haneefah! He used to see with the eyes of the mind what can never be seen with the eyes of the head."

[Narrated in Al-Bidaayah wan-Nihaayah, of Imaam ibn Katheer.]