Harun al Rashid (766–809) was a great Caliph. His domains extended from China to Spain. From east to west, north to south, no monarch could boast a kingdom as magnificent, as extant or as powerful as that of Harun. He was a patron of learning and the arts.
He
invited scholars from far-away lands, from China, India and Greece to come to
Baghdad and work at the House of Wisdom which his father had established.
The fabled Arabian Nights celebrate the dazzling brilliance
of his times. The emperors of China and France considered it an honor to send
emissaries to the court of Harun and seek peace and trade relations with his
vast empire.
Harun had a brother Behlul. Just as
Harun was rich and wealthy and Caliph of vast domains, Behlul was a saint,
scornful of the riches of the world and focused on the eternal, timeless riches
that accrue to men and women of goodness.
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Harun spent his time in the palace,
surrounded by courtiers and sycophants. Behlul spent his time in the desert in
seclusion.
Often times, he was
observed building castles in the desert sand, only to demolish them after he
had built them.
One
day, Harun was riding in the desert with his comrades when he saw his brother
building castles in the sand. The emperor descended from his royal stallion and
greeted his brother:
“How
are you, my good brother?”, asked the emperor.
“Shukr
Allah, Alhamdulillah (thanks be to God, praise be to God), I am well”, replied
Behlul.
The Price of a Palace in Heaven
The
Caliph observed that Behlul had built a sand castle. Reaching out to engage his
brother, Harun asked:
“I
would like to buy that sand castle. How much does it cost?”
Behlul usually charged only one dinar (a gold coin) from
merchants who were passing by. He would
take the money and distribute it to the poor the following morning.
But
Harun was a mighty Caliph. He had untold riches. Behlul asked for a price
worthy of a king.
“One hundred dinars (gold coins)”, came the immediate reply.
“And I will distribute the dinars to the poor tomorrow morning at the bazaar.”
“One
hundred dinars for a sand castle?” rejoined the Caliph. “That is too much for a
mere sand castle”.
“It
is one hundred dinars. It is up to you either to buy it or not to buy it.”
The
Caliph was not interested. He said salaam to his brother, mounted his horse
with its saddle of gold and rubies and departed.
So Harun Rashid, one of
his wives queen Zabeda, she was in the marketplace. She stopped by, she’s
looking, saying, “What is this, Ya Bahlul?”
Saying,
“It is a house from Paradise, I’m selling it.”
Jannah
and she asked, “How much is this one? How much is that one?”
“This one is ten gold, this one is hundred,
and this one is thousand.”
She said, “I’m taking the best one, for thousand gold.”And
she paid the money.
That night, as Harun slept in his royal chambers, he had a
dream. He dreamed that he was taken up to heaven and was shown places of
unspeakable grandeur and beauty.
When
Harun asked the accompanying angel to whom these palaces belonged, he was told
these were the palaces built by his brother Behlul and purchased from him by
passing merchants.
Those
people who reached to that station, they are able to go to check it also. And
they can check other’s houses too. Saying, “Fix this one like this, fix this
one like this. I like this kind, fix this house this way.” So it works.
Anyway, Harun Rashid, he’s walking around
in the Paradises and he’s seeing another special Palace that he has never seen
before. He tried to enter, there are guards over there saying,
“No.
You cannot enter here. This is very special.”
Harun
Rashid asked, “Don’t you know me? I am the Khalifa. There is restriction to
me?”
They
said, “Yes, for this palace there is restriction to you.”
He asked, “Whose palace is this?”
“This is your wife’s palace.”
“My wife’s palace and it is restricted to me?”
“Yes.”
He
said, “But she didn’t have this palace yesterday. How did it happen?”
“She just bought it from Bahlul Dana.”
“Ohhh…”
So he woke up from the dream, ran to
the marketplace right away. Bahlul Dana is looking at him, saying “Yes, Ya
Khalifa?”
He
said, “I came to buy some houses from Paradise.”
He
says, “There are the cheap ones” He said to Harun Rashid, “This is one
gold. For you it is a thousand gold. This one is hundred thousand. This one
that your wife bought for a thousand, it costs One million for you.”
Khalifa
is saying, “Are you trying to fool me? Yesterday you sold it for a thousand
gold. Now you want this much gold from me?”
Bahlul Dana replied, “Of course. Because she bought it without seeing.” And he said, “You have seen it, that’s why you came to buy it. For that one million.”
Moral of Story:--- The story of Harun Rashid and Behlul has a moral of
understanding the value of reality and the unseen. Behlul offers to sell his
entire kingdom to Harun for one sand castle, even though he previously offered
to sell it for one hundred dinars. Behlul explains that the previous purchase
was based on his belief in the unseen, while the current purchase is based on
seeing the value and reality.
The End
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