Hasan of Basra (R.A) and the fire-worshipper
Hasan
had a neighbour named Simeon who was a fireworshipper.
Simeon
fell ill and was at death’s door.
Friends
begged Hasan to visit him; he called, to find
him
in bed, blackened with fire and smoke.
“Fear
God,” Hasan counselled him. “You have
passed
all your life amid fire and smoke. Accept Islam,
that
God may have mercy on you.”
“Three
things hold me back from becoming a
Muslim,”
the fire-worshipper replied. “The first is, that
you
speak ill of the world, yet night and day you pursue
worldly
things. Secondly, you say that death is a
fact
to be faced, yet you make no preparation for
death.
In the third place, you say that God’s face shall
be
seen, yet today you do everything contrary to His
good
pleasure.”
“This
is the token of those who know truly,” Hasan
commented.
“Now if believers act as you describe, what
have
you to say? They acknowledge the unity of God;
whereas
you have spent your life in the worship of fire.
You
who have worshipped fire for seventy years, and I
who
have never worshipped fire—we are both carried
off
to Hell. Hell will consume you and me. God will pay
no
regard to you; but if God so wills, the fire will not
dare
so much as to burn one hair of my body. For fire is
a
thing created by God; and the creature is subject to the
Creator’s
command. Come now, you who have worshipped
fire
for seventy years; let us both put our hands
into
the fire, then you will see with your own eyes the
impotence
of fire and the omnipotence of God.”
So
saying, Hasan thrust his hand into the fire and
held
it there. Not a particle of his body was affected or
burnt.
When Simeon saw this he was amazed. The
dawn
of true knowledge began to break.
“For
seventy years I have worshipped fire,” he
groaned.
“Now only a breath or two remains to me.
What
am I to do?”
“Become
a Muslim,” was Hasan’s reply.
“If
you give it me in writing that God will not punish
me,”
said Simeon, “then I will believe. But until I
have
it in writing, I will not believe.”
Hasan
wrote it down.
“Now
order just witnesses of Basra to append their
testimony.”
The
witnesses endorsed the document. Then Simeon
wept
many tears and proclaimed the faith. He spoke
his
last testament to Hasan.
“When
I die, bid them wash me, then commit me to
the
earth with your own hands, and place this document
in
my hand. This document will be my proof.”
8
hasan of basra
Having
charged Hasan thus, he spoke the attestation
of
faith and died. They washed his body, said the
prayer
over him, and buried him with the document in
his
hand. That night Hasan went to sleep pondering
what
he had done.
“How
could I help a drowning man, seeing that I am
drowning
myself? Since I have no control over my own
fate,
why did I venture to prescribe how God should
act?”
With
this thought he fell asleep. He saw Simeon in a
dream
glowing like a candle; on his head a crown,
robed
in fine raiment, he was walking with a smile in
the
garden of Paradise.
“How
are you, Simeon?” Hasan enquired.
“Why
do you ask? You can see for yourself,” Simeon
answered.
“God Almighty of His bounty brought me
nigh
His presence and graciously showed me His face.
The
favours He showered upon me surpass all description.
You
have honoured your guarantee; so take your
document.
I have no further need of it.”
When
Hasan awoke, he saw that parchment in his
hand.“Lord
God,” he cried, “I know well that what
Thou
doest is without cause, save of Thy bounty. Who
shall
suffer loss at Thy door? Thou grantest a Guebre
of
seventy years to come into Thy near presence
because
of a single utterance. How then wilt Thou
exclude
a believer of seventy years?”