Have you heard of the story of The lady who only spoke from Quran? These days we are so spiritually deprieved that we end up looking for a role model at all sort of wrong places.
This story will definitely boost your imaan as it is one of those story that has deeply impacted me and I was thinking to share with you this story since a long time. So there was a great hanafi Scholar Abdullah ibn Mubarak (May the mercy of Allah be upon him) who was returning from Hajj when he noticed an elderly lady approaching from the other direction. She replied to his greeting with a verse from the Holy Quran
سَلَامٌ قَوْلًا مِّن رَّبٍّ رَّحِيمٍ.. – 36:58.
Peace! A word (of salutation) from a Lord Most Merciful [36:58]
He asked where she was coming from and she again quoted:
وَأَتِمُّوا الْحَجَّ وَالْعُمْرَةَ لِلَّهِ ۚ……- 2:196
And complete the Hajj or Umrah in the service of Allah [2:196]
Hadrat surmised that she had just completed Hajj and asked her why she was coming towards him from the opposite direction. She replied with a quote as before:
مَن يُضْلِلِ اللَّهُ فَلَا هَادِيَ لَهُ ۚ….. – 7:186
To such as Allah rejects from His guidance there can be no guide [7:196]
Hadrat again understood that she was lost and asked where she was going. Her next quote told him that she was returning to the city and so he offered to guide her because he was going the same way. Having traveled some Hadrat Abdullah (May the mercy of Allah be upon him) started reciting some poetry in Arabic and so the lady recited a verse from the Holy Quran:
فَاقْرَءُوا مَا تَيَسَّرَ مِنَ الْقُرْآنِ ۚ … – 73:20..
Read of the Quran as much as is easy for you [73:20]
Hadrat Abdullah ibn Mubarak now kept silent but asked himself who this lady might be. Along the way he tried to find out more about her but she put an abrupt end to his questions with yet another verse.
يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا لَا تَسْأَلُوا عَنْ أَشْيَاءَ إِن تُبْدَ لَكُمْ تَسُؤْكُمْ…- 5:101
Ask not questions about things which if made plain to you may cause you trouble [5:101]
Reaching the outskirts of town Hadrat asked her who she had to meet up with and from her reply ascertained that Allah had blessed her with sons and wealth.
الْمَالُ وَالْبَنُونَ زِينَةُ الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا ۖ … – 18:46
Wealth and sons are the allurements of the life of this world [18:46]
Entering town Hadrat noticed a caravan of hujjaj that had obviously stopped for rest along the way and asked the lady the names of her sons. She replied with a verse as she had done throughout and said:
Ibrahim, Isma’il and Isaac [2:133]
As soon as Hadrat Abdullah called out these names three handsome youths came running toward him. Extremely worried regarding their mother’s whereabouts they had been searching all the caravans and now were overjoyed to see her. Her benefactor was about to leave when she again quoted a verse and gestured to her sons to host him with food and drink.
وَيُطْعِمُونَ الطَّعَامَ عَلَىٰ حُبِّهِ مِسْكِينًا وَيَتِيمًا وَأَسِيرًا – 76:8
And they feed for the love of Allah [76:8]
Her sons immediately ran and brought some fruit for Hadrat but he politely excused himself. The mother he had just reunited with her sons hence quoted again from the Holy Quran.
إِنَّمَا نُطْعِمُكُمْ لِوَجْهِ اللَّهِ لَا نُرِيدُ مِنكُمْ جَزَاءً وَلَا شُكُورًا – 76:9
We feed you for the sake of Allah alone [76:9]
Hadrat Abdullah ibn Mubarak was amazed and at a loss to understand what had been transpiring and so asked her sons why their mother replied to everything with a verse. One of the sons told him that their mother was a hafiza of the Holy Quran and an alima of hadith. Her heart was so filled with the fear of Allah that she feared having to account for her speech on the Day of Judgment, and hence had spoken nothing but the Holy Quran for the last twenty years.
May Allah increase us in our ilm and Amal.
