They say that one day the Sultan of Egypt called learned men to his place and, as often happens in such cases, a dispute arose in the assembly. The theme was Mohammed's night trip. Tradition says that the prophet was ascended from his bed directly into the heavenly spheres. He managed to see heaven and hell, talked with God ninety thousand times, experienced much more, and returned to earth at a time when his bed had not yet cooled down, and the vessel with water, which turned over during his ascent, did not even have time to be completely empty.
Some thought this was possible due to various changes in time. The Sultan argued that this was completely impossible. The sages assured that with divine power everything is possible. But this argument did not satisfy the monarch at all.
News of this dispute spread and finally reached the Sufi Sheikh Shihabeddin, who immediately hurried to the palace. The Sultan respectfully greeted the teacher and showed him due hospitality.
“I see,” said the sheikh, “that both sides are equally far from the truth.” Therefore, without any preamble, I will give my proof: tradition can be explained by verifiable facts, and there is no need to resort to bare assumptions or boring and helpless “logical argumentation.”
The throne room had four windows. The sheikh ordered one of them to be opened. The Sultan looked out and was horrified: he saw in the distance on the mountain a countless army approaching the palace.
“Don’t worry, it’s just a mirage,” said the sheikh.
He closed the window and opened it again: the vision disappeared. When another window was opened, the Sultan screamed in horror: the whole city was on fire.
“It’s a mirage,” the sheikh reminded.
He closed the window and opened it again - the city stood unharmed.
The third window was opened, and the Sultan saw that a severe flood was threatening to drown the palace. But this picture also disappeared without a trace when the Sultan looked out the window again. In the fourth window, instead of the usual desert, the Garden of Eden opened up, which also turned out to be an illusion. Then the sheikh asked to bring a vessel with water and invited the Sultan to dip his head in the water for a moment. The Sultan did this, but as soon as he touched his face to the water, he found himself alone on a deserted seashore in an unfamiliar place. Lost with rage, the Sultan vowed to take revenge on the sheikh for his witchcraft. Soon he met woodcutters. They asked him how he ended up here. Not wanting to reveal his true position to them, he said that his ship sank, but he managed to escape. They gave him some clothes and he headed into town. There, a blacksmith saw him wandering aimlessly through the streets and asked who he was. “I am a merchant,” answered the Sultan, “all my goods were lost in a shipwreck, but I managed to escape, but I remained poor and naked. And these clothes were given to me by the woodcutters.” And then the blacksmith told him that, according to the custom of their country, any stranger can propose to the first woman leaving the bathhouse, and she must agree to marry him.
The Sultan approached the bathhouse and saw a beautiful woman coming out of there. He asked her if she was married. It turned out that she had a husband. The second one was ugly, but, fortunately, she also turned out to be married. And the third was married. He waited a little longer and saw a lovely woman. She said that she did not have a husband, but walked past him: apparently, she was put off by his pitiful appearance. After some time, a man appeared in front of him and said: “I was sent to look for a stranger here in dirty clothes. Please follow me."
The Sultan followed the servant, and soon they entered a magnificent house. The servant led him into a richly decorated room and left him there alone. An hour passed, and four beautiful women in luxurious clothes entered the room, followed by a fifth, even more beautiful. The Sultan recognized her as the woman who replied that she was not married. She greeted him and explained that she was in a hurry to prepare the house for his arrival, and that her coldness was only a compliance with the custom that all the women of this country followed on the street.
They dressed the Sultan in amazing clothes, brought him exquisite dishes and delighted his ears with exquisite music all evening. He lived with his wife for seven years until they squandered her entire fortune. Then the woman said that now he must provide for her and her seven sons. Remembering his first friend in this city, the blacksmith, the Sultan decided to ask him for advice. Since the Sultan did not know any craft, the blacksmith advised him to go to the market and hire himself as a porter.
He did just that.
But on his first day of work, after hauling a terribly heavy load, he earned only one-tenth of what was needed to feed his family. The next day the Sultan came to the sea and found the very place where he found himself seven years ago, plunging his head into a vessel of water. Deciding to pray, he began to perform ablution and, dipping his head, suddenly saw that he was in his former palace, next to the sheikh and courtiers. There was a vessel with water in front of him.
- Seven years in exile, oh villain! - the Sultan shouted, - family, the need to be a porter! And how you were not afraid of Almighty God!
“But it only lasted for a moment.”
The courtiers confirmed the sheikh's words, but the Sultan could not bring himself to believe it. He was about to give the order for the immediate execution of the sheikh, but he, foreseeing that this was about to happen, applied the art called al-kahaibat (the science of disappearance), thanks to which he was instantly transported to Baghdad, many days' journey from the capital of Egypt.
From there he sent a letter to the Sultan:
“Seven years have passed for you, as you already understood, in one moment, while your head was in the water, this is just a manifestation of certain abilities, and your experience had no special meaning - it was an illustration of what can happen. You asked whether the bed could not have cooled down, and the vessel could not have been empty, as is said in the legend about the prophet. It doesn’t matter whether something can happen or not, everything can happen. The meaning of what is happening is important. The prophet’s experience had deep meaning, whereas what happened to you had no value.”
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru