Turning to Allah Ta‘ala at the Time of Need

Hazrat Safwaan bin Muhriz (rahimahullah) was a pious Taabi’ee from Basrah. He had learnt Hadith from many Sahaabah (radhiyallahu ‘anhum), such as Hazrat Abu Musa Ash’ari (radhiyallahu ‘anhu), Hazrat Abdullah bin Umar (radhiyallahu ‘anhuma), and others.

It is mentioned that once, the evil and oppressive ruler, Ubaidullah bin Ziyaad, arrested the nephew of Hazrat Safwaan (rahimahullah) and threw him into prison. On hearing what had happened to his nephew, Hazrat Safwaan (rahimahullah) became very worried.

He went to all the noble and influential people of Basrah, told them about his nephew being placed in jail, and asked them to help him by interceding to the ruler and asking him to release the nephew from jail. However, no matter who he spoke to, nobody could help him.

Finally, Hazrat Safwaan (rahimahullah) returned to his home, sad and disappointed as he was unable to help his nephew. In this condition of sadness, he went onto his musallah and began to perform salaah, until eventually, he became tired and fell asleep on the musallah.

While asleep on the musallah, Hazrat Safwaan (rahimahullah) saw a dream in which a person said to him, “O Safwaan! Stand up, and seek help to fulfil your need from the correct avenue!”

On waking up from the dream, Hazrat Safwaan (rahimahullah) immediately made wudhu, performed salaah, and then turned to Allah Ta‘ala in dua, begging Him for His divine help and assistance.

In the meantime, Ubaidullah bin Ziyaad had been fast asleep, but as Hazrat Safwaan (rahimahullah) made dua to Allah Ta‘ala, his eyes opened and he woke up. Ubaidullah bin Ziyaad tried to go back to sleep, but no matter what he did, sleep would not come, until he realised that it was because of him imprisoning the nephew of Hazrat Safwaan (rahimahullah) that this was happening to him.

He called the police and said to them, “Bring the nephew of Safwaan bin Muhriz to me!” The police went, in the middle of the night, unlocked the jail and brought the nephew to Ubaidullah bin Ziyaad. When he was brought before Ubaidullah bin Ziyaad, Ubaidullah asked him, “Are you the nephew of Safwaan?” When the nephew said yes, then Ubaidullah said to the police, “Release him and let him go free!”

After the nephew was released, he went to the home of Hazrat Safwaan (rahimahullah) and knocked on the door. Since it was the middle of the night, Hazrat Safwaan (rahimahullah) was surprised to hear someone knocking on his door and asked, “Who is there?” His nephew then identified himself, by mentioning his name, and explained to his uncle how Ubaidullah had woken up in the middle of the night and could not go back to sleep, after which he had sent the police to take him out of prison and had set him free.

Lesson:

In the Hadith Shareef, Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) taught us that no matter what need we have, whether it is a small need or a big need, we must turn to Allah Ta‘ala in dua and ask Him to fulfil our need. We can adopt the means, such as asking a person for assistance, but we must not forget to make dua, and must remember that the means can only work if Allah Ta‘ala allows it to work.

Therefore, when we have any problem, we must make wudhu, perform a few rakaats of salaah, and then raise our hands to Allah Ta‘ala in dua and beg Him to help us.