LEARN TO LOVE YOUR LORD FROM THIS SUFI SAINT Abu Othman al-Hiri

Abu Othman al-Hiri

Abu ‘Othman Sa’id ibn Esma’il al-Hiri al-

Nisaburi came originally from Rayy, where he

knew Yahya ibn Mo’adh al-Razi and Shah ibn

Shoja’ al-Kermani. He moved to Nishapur where

he came under the influence of Abu Hafs al-

Haddad. He visited al-Jonaid in Baghdad, and

died at Nishapur in 298 (911).

The education of Abu Othman-e Hiri

“My heart even in the days of my childhood was

always seeking after something of reality,” said Abu

Othman-e Hiri. “I had an aversion for the followers of

formal religion, and I was always convinced that something

else existed apart from what the general mass of

the people believed in, that the Islamic way of life held

mysteries other than its external manifestations.”

One day Abu Othman was going to school accompanied

by four slaves, an Ethiop, a Greek, a Kashmiri,

and a Turk. In his hand he carried a golden pen-case;

he wore on his head a muslin turban, on his back a silk

robe. Passing on his way an ancient caravanserai, he

peeped in and saw there an ass with sores on its back,

a raven was pecking at its wounds, and the beast had

not the strength to drive it away. Abu Othman was

filled with compassion.

“Why are you with me?” he addressed one of the

slaves.

“To assist you in every thought that passes through

your mind,” the slave replied.

Immediately Abu Othman took off his silken dress

and covered the donkey with it, bandaging the beast

with his muslin turban. With mute eloquence the ass at

once communed with God Almighty. Before ever he

reached home, Abu Othman was visited by a spiritual

experience such as true men of God know.

Like one distraught, he found his way to the assembly

of Yahya-e Mo’adh; his preaching opened a door in

his heart. Breaking away from his mother and father,

Abu Othman served Yahya for a while, learning the

Sufi discipline. This continued until a party arrived

from Shah-e Shoja’-e Kermani and told stories of that

holy man. A great eagerness to see Shah-e Shoja’ invaded

Abu Othman. Having obtained permission from his

spiritual preceptor he proceeded to Kerman, to wait on

the saint. Shah-e Shoja’ declined to receive him.

“You have become habituated to hope,” he told him.

“Yahya’s station is hope. Spiritual advancement cannot

be looked for in one brought up on hope. Blind attachment

to hope generates idleness. With Yahya, hope is a

real experience; with you it is blind imitation.”

Abu Othman entreated the saint with great humility,

haunting his threshold for twenty days, till at last he

was admitted. He remained in his society and derived

much benefit from his instruction until the time came

when Shah-e Shoja’ set out for Nishapur to visit Abu

Hafs. Abu Othman accompanied him, the saint wearing

a short tunic. Abu Hafs came out to receive Shah-e

Shoja’ and showered praises upon him.

Abu Othman’s whole desire was to join the company

of Abu Hafs, but his reverence for Shah-e Shoja’

prevented him from broaching the matter, for Shah-e

Shoja’ was a jealous teacher. Abu Othman begged God

to provide some means whereby he might remain with

Abu Hafs without annoying Shah-e Shoja’; for he perceived

that Abu Hafs was a man of great spiritual

advancement.

When Shah-e Shoja’ determined that it was time to

return to Kerman, Abu Othman busied himself with

making ready provisions for the road. Then one day

Abu Hafs said to Shah-e Shoja’ very affably, “Leave

this young man here. I am delighted with him.”

“Obey the shaikh,” said Shah-e Shoja’, turning to

Abu Othman. With that Shah-e Shoja’ departed, and

Abu Othman remained, and saw what he saw.

“I was still a young man,” Abu Othman recalled,

“when Abu Hafs dismissed me from his service. ‘I do

not wish you to come near me any more,’ he told me. I

said nothing, and my heart would not suffer me to turn

my back on him. So I withdrew facing him as I was,

weeping all the while, till I vanished from his sight. I

made a place opposite him and cut out a hole through

which I watched him. I firmly resolved never to leave

that spot unless the shaikh ordered me. When the

shaikh noticed me there and observed my sorry state,

he called me out and promoted me to his favour, marrying

his daughter to me.”

Anecdotes of Abu Othman

“For forty years,” said Abu Othman, “whatever state

God has kept me in I have not resented, and to whatever

state He has transferred me I have not been

angry.”

The following story bears out this assertion. A man

who disbelieved in Abu Othman sent him an invitation.

Abu Othman accepted, and got as far as the door of his

house. The man then shouted at him.

“Glutton, there is nothing here for you. Go home!”

Abu Othman went home. He had gone only a little

way when the man called out to him.

“Shaikh, come here!”

Abu Othman returned.

“You are very eager to eat,” the man taunted him.

“There is still less. Be off with you!”

The shaikh departed. The man summoned him

again, and he went back.

 

“Eat stones, or go home!”

Abu Othman went off once more. Thirty times the

man summoned him and drove him away. Thirty times

the shaikh came and went, without showing the least

discomposure. Then the man fell at his feet and with

tears repented, becoming his disciple.

“What a man you are!” he exclaimed. “Thirty times

I drove you off with contumely, and you showed not

the slightest discomposure.”

“This is an easy matter,” Abu Othman replied.

“Dogs do the same. When you drive them away they

go, and when you call them they come, without showing

any discomposure. A thing in which dogs equal us

cannot really be accounted anything. Men’s work is

something quite other.”

One day Abu Othman was walking along the street

when someone emptied a tray of ashes on his head

from the roof. His companions, infuriated, were about

to abuse the offender, but Abu Othman stopped them.

“One should give thanks a thousandfold,” he said,

“that one who merited fire was let off with ashes!”

A dissolute young fellow was strolling along with a

lute in his hand, completely drunk. Suddenly catching

sight of Abu Othman, he tucked his curls under his cap

and drew the lute into his sleeve, thinking that he

would denounce him to the authorities. Abu Othman

approached him in the kindliest manner.

“Do not be afraid. Brothers are all one,” he said.

When the young man saw that, he repented and

became a disciple of the shaikh. Abu Othman instructed

him to be washed, invested him, and then raised his

head to heaven.

“O God,” he cried, “I have done my part. The rest

Thou must do.”

Immediately the youth was visited by such a mystical

experience that Abu Othman himself was amazed.

At the time of the afternoon prayers, Abu Othman-e

Maghrebi arrived. Abu Othman-e Hiri said to him,

“Shaikh, I am consumed with envy. All that I have

yearned for in a long life has been poured freely on the

head of this youth, from whose belly the odour of wine

still proceeds. So you know that men propose, but God

disposes.”