A man rose up where Junayd (Junayd al-Baghdadi) was preaching and began to beg."This man is perfectly healthy,'' thought Junayd." He can earn his living. Why does he beg, and impose on himself this humiliation?"
That night Junayd dreamed that a covered dish was set before him. "Eat," he was bidden. When he lifted the lid, he saw the man who had begged lying dead on the dish. "I do not eat the flesh of men," he protested. "Then why did you do so in mosque yesterday?" he was asked.
Junayd realized that he had been guilty of slander in his heart, and that he was being taken to task for an evil thought.
"I woke in terror," Junayd recollected. "I purified myself and prayed two rak'as, then I went out to search for the beggar. I saw him on the bank of the Tigris, picking out of the water scraps of vegetables people had washed there and eating them.
Raising his head, he saw me approaching and addressed me. "Junayd," he said, "have you repented of the thoughts concerning me?" "I have," I replied.
"Then go. It is He who accepts repentance from His servants. This time keep a watch over your thoughts."
... Tadhkirat al-Auliya', Farid al-Din Attar
2 comments:
Thoughts... where does the purity of thoughts originate from? The process of thinking itself or start from the heart? when i close my eyes, i find it difficult to move my thoughts one step forward without my heart giving instructions to what i intend to do next. Therefore is purity of thoughts = purity of intentions?
Hmmm ... good question.
Let's just put it this way: where does our thoughts originate from?
Hence, where is the "key" to our being and to our deeds?
:-)
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