Remembrance of Allah — Page 97
Twenty-two Methods of Concentration in Prayers 97 he was present in the court of the king, he witnessed a major chief being bestowed a royal mantle as a reward for some very great service that he had performed. This chief was suffering from a cold; his nose was running. The chief had forgotten to bring a handkerchief. When he thought the king was not looking, the chief wiped his nose with the same royal mantle. The king noticed it and said very angrily, ‘Is this the value of our royal mantle in your sight!’ As Shibli rta had the fear of Allah in his heart, he was so overwhelmed by this incident that he fell unconscious. When he regained consciousness, he said, ‘I wish to resign from the governorship. ’ When the king asked him for the reason, Shibli rta told the king, ‘You gave this chief a royal mantle which he did not value appropriately, and you became so furious with him, whereas I have been granted innumerable bounties by God. How great will be His punishment if I do not value them properly and do not render thanks for them?’ After this he went to Junaid rta and asked to be accepted as his pupil. He said, ‘I cannot accept you as a student; you have been a governor and in that capacity you must have commit- ted many types of excesses against the creatures of God. ’ He asked, ‘Is there any cure for this ?’ Junaid rta told him that he should go to every house in the area that he had been the governor of, and say that if he had committed any excess against anyone, they should take revenge for it. Accordingly, he did exactly that. It is written about him that when he offered the Naw a fil and would find any kind of slackness in his body or if any