Daughter of Shah bin Shuja Kirmanee

Salams
I've been travelling a lot lately and have been busy as well... as I'm feeling tired from this I'm gonna 'cheat' and post something from Mujahidah an Nafs blog. Actually, as you read through the post you'll realise it's better I take the post from the blog, instead of just the story from Bahesti Zewar, because it summarises some of the excellent lessons to be drawn from this event in the life of the Daughter of Shah bin Shuja Kirmanee. Anyway, the original post...

Hazrat Shuja Kirmani was a great saint of his time and was related to the royal family. The king of Kirman requested Hazrat Shuja to marry his daughter to the prince. Upon his request Shuja asked for 3 days respite during which he remained in the mosque. On the final day he saw a young pious man performing salaat. When he completed his namaaz, Shuja requested him to marry his daughter. The young man replied that he was a pauper and that he could not get married. He only had 3 dirhams (silver coins). Shuja accepted him as his son-in-law. What happened after is worth noting.

When the girl went to her husbands house she saw a piece of dry bread lying in a bowl. She asked him about it. The husband replied that it was yesterday's left over bread which he had kept for tonight. The bride was shocked to hear this and asked him to take her to her father's house. The husband said that he knew a girl from the royal family could not live with him. However the bride replied that she was not returning because of his poverty, but due to the weakness of his Iman (faith) because he kept yesterday's bread for today.

She said: "I am totally surprised at my father who, for twenty years did not get me married because he was in search of a pious and religious person and when he did get me married, then it was to someone like you who does not have trust in Allah as the Provider and makes arrangements for tomorrow from today".

The young man was surprised to hear this, and asked: "How can this error be forgiven".

The bride said :"Either keep the piece of bread or keep me".

The young man immediately gave the bread away as charity. The moral of the story...

Firstly... Tawakkul: The amount of trust that this woman had in Allah is amazing. She was so hurt by the fact that her husband had kept a piece of bread for the next evening and that he had not trusted Allah as the provider that she wanted to leave him. Would that be something we'd leave our husbands for? She couldn't tolerate a piece of bread let alone the luxeries of this world. Something 2 think about.

Secondly... Shukr: She was grateful for what she had, even though they were poor. She was grateful despite the fact that they didn't even have anything to eat the next evening. Shukr for even the littlest things despite coming from a royal family. Today we would complain if our husbands forgot to bring a extra loaf of bread or bottle of milk.

Thirdly... Imaan: Look at the imaan that she had! Her love for Allah (swt) was so great that she was prepared to leave her husband...marriage for a woman is a big thing...to leave your husband is very hard...but could you leave your husband if he said he was going to save a piece of bread for the next day because he wasn't sure if you would have anything to eat? yaani he wasn't sure that Allah would provide u with that food? Many of us would just ignore it and get on with it, but look at how strong her imaan was that she was prepared to give up something so important for the sake of Allah. You only really leave something important for something that holds greater importance; in this case obviously her love for Allah was greater than her love for her husband.

May Allah bless us all with a love for Allah (swt) that strong. Ameen. May Allah make us all (i'm referring to sisters here :P) follow the example's set by the great women of islam, the ummul mu'mineen, the sahabiyat.. may He bless us with the ability to implement their examples into our lives and may He bless each and every one of us with a love for Allah (swt) that surpasses any love.

Brothers...I havn't forgotten you... I pray that Allah blesses u with wives who would give up everything only to please Allah, because wives who can do that are very special indeed.

This is for everyone...I pray that Allah blesses us all with the attributes of tawakkul, shukr and imaan, for without these attributes we will be lost ...May He Allah (swt) plant a love in our hearts for Him that will give us the ability to give up even the most beloved things to us in this dunya for His sake only.
Ameen.