When worries pray with us
Bismillāhi r-Raḥmāni r-Raḥīm
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate.
Ṣalât al-Fâtihi (translated)
O Allah, send blessings upon our master Muhammad,
the Opener of what was closed,
the Seal of what came before,
the Helper of the Truth by the Truth,
and the Guide to Your straight path.
And upon his family,
according to his immense worth and the greatness of his rank.
⸻
Verse on following the Prophet ﷺ
“Say: If you truly love Allah, then follow me;
Allah will love you and forgive your sins.
And Allah is Most Forgiving, Most Merciful.”
(Sūrat Āl ʿImrān, verse 31)
⸻
Words of our master Shaykh Aḥmad Tijānī
(may Allah sanctify his precious secret)
“All good lies in following the Sunnah, and all evil lies in what diverges from the Sunnah.”
“Any path that does not lead to following the Prophet ﷺ is a path of perdition.”
⸻
When worries pray with us
I am going to tell you the story of the madman with true vision. Once upon a time…
A madman entered the mosque and observed the faces of the worshippers. He saw upon the shoulders of each of them a burden of worries tied to this worldly life.
He entered the mosque just before the call to prayer. He remained standing, hesitant, without sitting down, then began to walk between the rows, looking at people with a strange gaze, as if he were seeing what no one else could see. Then he rushed out.
After a while, he returned, carrying on his back a large bundle of firewood tightly bound. He then took his place in the row with the worshippers.
The prayer began. He bowed and prostrated with difficulty, and pieces of wood fell from his back, making noise and disturbing the concentration of the worshippers. Nevertheless, they completed the prayer. As soon as the imam gave the salām, protests arose. The imam approached him gently and said:
— My son, how can you pray with such a burden on your back? You exhausted yourself and disturbed those around you!
The madman looked at him with sad eyes and replied:
— Is this not your tradition?
The imam, astonished, asked:
— What tradition?
The madman said:
— I entered the mosque to pray, and I saw something carried on the shoulders of each person. I thought it was a condition for prayer. So I went to fetch some wood, carried it, and came back. Why do you blame me alone?
The imam asked:
— And do you see something on my back as well?
The madman replied:
— Yes. On the backs of all of you there are heavy loads.
Some people laughed, mocking him.
Then he pointed at one of them and said:
— That one is carrying a blue-eyed child, this one an apple tree, that one a broken door, another a cooking pot full of food, this one a roasted chicken, that one a dark-haired woman, and this one an elderly mother…
Then he lowered his hands and shook his head sadly, saying:
— No one is empty… no one is empty.
Silence fell over the mosque, for his words had touched hearts. Then the imam asked in a low voice:
— Tell me, what was on my back?
The madman replied:
— On your back there was a large cow. You were thinking about your sick cow—whether it would live or die.
The End
Glory be to Almighty God.
There is no deity but Allah. Truly, I was among the wrongdoers.
⸻
O Allah, send blessings upon our master Muhammad,
the Opener of what was closed,
the Seal of what came before,
the Helper of the Truth by the Truth,
and the Guide to Your straight path.
And upon his family,
according to his immense worth and the greatness of his rank.
⸻
The poor servant in Allah and disciple of Shaykh Aḥmad Tijānī
(may Allah sanctify his precious secret),
Mohammed El Mansour El Mohieddine Tidjani