Story: THE NAMÂZ WHICH FREED ONE FROM PRISON (I)

Abdullah bin Tâhir, governor of Khorasan, was very just. One day, his gendarmes reported to the governor that they had caught some thieves. One of the thieves escaped. Instead of the thief, a blacksmith from Hirât, who had gone to Nishâbûr, was arrested, as he was going back home that night. Together with the thieves they took him up to the governor, who then commanded them to be imprisoned! In the prison, the blacksmith made an ablution and performed namâz. Holding his hands out, he invoked, “O my Allah! Save me! You alone know that I am innocent. You alone can rescue me from this dungeon. O my Allah! Save me!” That night the governor dreamt of four strong people, who came up to him and were about to turn his throne upside down, when he woke up. Immediately, he made an ablution and performed a namâz of two rak’ats. He went back to sleep. Again he dreamt that the four persons were about to overturn his throne, and woke up. He realized that he had been doing injustice to someone who in turn had been invoking against him. As a matter of fact, a poem says:

Thousands of cannons and rifles can never do,

What tears will do in the early morning.

The enemy-frightening spears are often

Pulverized by a Believer’s praying.

O our Allah! You alone are great! You are so great that the great, as well as the meager, only beg of You when they are in trouble. Only he who begs of You will attain his desire.