Story Caliph Harun al Rashid & Sufi Bahlul Dana who was Selling Palace in Paradise at a Dinar.Queen Zubaidah purched

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. 

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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