The name of my mentor, Sheikh Usman Kabutar (may Allah have mercy on him) is still held in high esteem in the streets of Baghdad. He used to say, laughing at the ignorance of man, thinking that his status is like that of a insect trapped in a web of spiders and he considers the spider web as his ancestral home.
Sheikh’s Astana was a tamarind tree. During winter, summer and rainy days, he lived on the dry branch of the same tamarind fleet and taught and preached to his disciples under the same tamarind tree.
He used to fly like a pigeon, so he was called Sheikh Usman Kabuta. He used to teach and preach to his disciples throughout the day and when it was night, he would fly and sit on the branch of the tamarind tree. He was afraid to sit under the roof; He used to say “I suffocate beneath one roof, from where I should get the courage to bear the other roof.”
Lore has it his disciple Syed Razi was ecstatic to hear the logic of the Sheik that he demolished his house and wearing the sackcloth, came to the sheikh and started to live under the same tamarind tree on which branch sheiks stayed.
He had many disciples during his life, but among them, besides Sayed Razi, Abu Muslim Baghdadi, Sheikh Hamza, Abu Ja’far Shirazi, Habib ibn Yahya Tirmizi were counted special and very close to the sheikh.
They all five were pure and Faqeeri and Qalandari was their profession. Sheikh Hamza lived a life of seclusion and lived in a roofless house. He was impressed by the teachings of the Sheikh and said that living under the roof is shirk. There is only one roof that has been found by a single participant, the God. It is not pleasing for the slaves to make the roof against the roof. Abu Muslim Baghdadi’s father held a high position in society and was a very rich man, yet he was so impressed by the Sheikh’s teachings that he left home and left his father’s wealth and settled here under the tree, saying that status is a veil of truth. And one day Abu Ja’far Shirazi tore his clothes and burnt the mat. He said that the mat is the distance between the soil and the soil and the garment gives precedence to the soil over the soil and from that day onwards he used to sit on the dust. Habib ibn Yahya Tirmizi also followed Abu Ja’far Shirazi and came under the tamarind and started living there naked without clothes. Dust was his bed and brick was his pillow.
But as soon as Sheikh Usman Kabuter closed his eyes and left this world, his five disciples turned their backs on his teachings and the greed of the world led them astray.
His disciples covered his mud grave with white marble and spread a sheet of silk over it. They also built a beautiful tomb over it. People started coming to his grave and offering gold, silver and diamonds.
I am the sixth disciple of Sheikh Usman Kabutar and after his death I became his disciple. And since becoming a disciple, it has become my daily routine to circumambulate the Sheikh’s grave.
I am writing all this with my left hand because my right hand is under the influence of my opponent and it wants to get me write something which is false and I do not want to write.
It had rained heavily that night, more than half the night had passed, all the pilgrims had left after visiting the Sheikh’s mausoleum, and there was no one else in the shrine except me.
I was very tired while doing the circumambulation of Sheikh’s mausoleum and my whole body was getting tired with fatigue and shattered. At last I sat down at the head of the Sheikh’s grave and asked: What is the secret of the baby fox, and what is the secret of its growing up after being rubbed?
I was sure that the sheikh would answer my question, but when there was no answer for a long time, I slowly slid the corner of the silk sheet lying on the sheikh’s grave and said a little louder: Ya sheikh!
A voice came, the baby fox is your lust, and lust will get thicker as it is trampled.
And then the sound of fluttering was heard and the grave of the sheikh was opened. And a white Pigeon came out of the grave; it flew into the air and sat on the highest branch of a tamarind tree to the left of the Sheikh’s tomb in the premises of the shrine.
Out of my mouth: Ya Sheikh!
Sheikh Usman Kabutar took a deep breath and became sad.
I inquired about the reason for being saddened by Hazrat, he uttered a sigh and said: O Abu Ubaydah taatari, Usman turned his back on the lust of the world and rose above the low, but—-
I begged with folded hands, Ya Sheikh, please explain what you mean by ‘but’.
Sheikh remained in a state of meditation for some time, and then said in a very sad voice: This world is like a golden pig.
I asked, “What is the golden pig?”
“Golden pig is your lust,” Sheikh replied.
I further asked,” what is lust?”
“The longing of the world,” said the sheikh.
I again asked, “What is the longing of the world?”
Sheikh said, “The longing of the world is one’s fall from the heights.”
I asked, “What is falling from heights?”
Sheikh said, “To fall from heights is to be one’s decline,”
I apologized and said, “What is one’s decline?”
He said, “Decline is Lack of knowledge.”
I again apologized and asked, “What is lack of knowledge?”
He said, “Ignorance.”
I asked, “What is ignorance?”
He said, “Fata Morgana.”
I requested, “Please explain.”
He said, “O Abu Ubaydah taatari, this world is like a desert, the sand is scattered far and wide, and the Adam’s descendants are like travelers in the desert. At some distance a spring of water can be seen, if you go near it, it is a mirage, it is a deception of sight. When you get closer, the truth becomes clear. What you consider to be the sky is the limit of your vision. All is illusion.
You have seen, as soon as I closed my eyes, how my disciples turned their backs on my teachings, and the greed of the world led them astray. It is shirk for me to live under one roof. There is only one roof which has got only one participant, that is Almighty, Allah. It is not pleasing for the slaves to build the roof against the roof. But alas, after I died, my disciples not only laid marble stones on my mud grave, but also covered my grave with a silk carpet in such a way that it became difficult for me to breathe. Alas, this city of Baghdad is no longer suitable for sages like me and the people of God. Saying this, Sheikh cried so much that his long white beard got wet with tears.
Sheikh was crying because his disciples had turned away from his teachings and I was shedding tears over Sheikh’s crying.
We both cried and wailed for a long time; meanwhile dark clouds covered the sky. It seemed as if it will rain heavily but not a single drop of rain fell. The weather definitely got a bit cold. There was a strange sadness and uneasiness in the atmosphere, as if someone was trying to cry but the tears had dried up in his eyes, like a dry river.
Meanwhile lightning flashed in the firmament, Sheikh raised his eyes to the sky, as if someone had commanded him from heaven. Get out of here, he opened his wings and flew west.
Sheikh was flying in the air and I was walking on the ground with the Support of his fragrance.
After a long journey of several days we reached a valley. Some distance away a river was flowing, and the sand stretched to the bank of the river, and where this sand ended, there was a series of trees, mostly kadams trees, but between them there was a tamarind tree. Sheikh Usman Kabutar sat on the highest branch of the same tamarind tree and I sat down in the shade of the tree and began to relax.
The sun had not yet set, but was about to set, the sky was turning pink, and a light breeze was blowing but the air was warm and sticky.
Sheikh looked sadly at the setting sun for a while and then remained silent for a while, as if he was remembering something that happened in the past.
Shaikh was looking at the setting sun and I was looking at him, he turned to me and said, do you know which place this is?
I very politely replied, “No, I don’t know what place it is.”
The sheikh smiled but his smile was strangely bitter, he said, “This place is called Buxar, a famous city, here is the place where the battle of Buxar took place between the British and the Nawab of Bengal, Mir Qasim in 1764 and in this battle, the British defeated Mir Qasim with the help and support of the Indian traitors. As a result, India became a slave of the British. O Abu Ubaydah taatari, this country is called India. Its history is full of traitors.”
Then after a while Sheikh added, “This River is known as Mukti Vahini Ganga, and this Ghat is called Mahadev Ghat.”
I asked, “Why this river is called Mukti Vahini Ganga?”
Sheikh said, this river is also known as Bhagirathi Ganga, it is also considered as the daughter of Himalayas. In ancient times this river used to flow in heaven.
It was brought to earth by the tireless efforts of Bhagirath so that by the touch of its holy water his elders could be freed from the curse of Kapil Muni. Hence it is called Mukti Vahini Ganga.
I requested, “Please tell the whole chronicle.”
Sheikh narrated the story in divine voice, “In ancient times there was a king named Sagar, he had 60000 sons, he was a majestic and powerful king and he conquered the whole world and was performing Ashwamedha Yagya by conquering the whole earth. During Yagya he came to know that his Ashwamedha horses were stolen. King Sagar sent his 60000 sons in search of the horses.
When his sons found that the horses were tied up in Kapil Muni’s Hermitage they thought it was captured by Him so they planned to attack Kapil Muni.
But when they prepared to attack the meditating Kapil Muni at the same time, the eyes of Kapil Rishi, absorbed in penance, opened and he got angry. A flame rose in the eyes of the sage and burnt Sagar’s 60 thousand sons to ashes in a moment. There was one more son of king Sagar his name was Anshuman. When Anshuman came to know about this, he went to Rishi Kapil and humbly asked how the soul of his brother would get salvation.
Then Kapil Rishi told that if the water of the Ganges is sprinkled on their ashes, then they will get salvation. Anshuman tried his best to help his deceased brothers to get the salvation but unfortunately he failed.
Later Anshuman’s grandsons King Bhagiratha took the initiative to do penance for the peace of the souls of his ancestors. In order to save the ancestors, Bhagirath did severe penance and finally Mother Ganga had to accept his prayer to come to earth.
Now the biggest challenge for him was, how to bring river Ganga on earth , The current of the Ganges was so strong if it could fall directly on earth then it could lead to destruction. Then Bhagirath again did penance to Lord Shiva. Lord Shiva was pleased with Bhagirath’s penance and agreed to help Bhagirath.
After this Lord Shiva took Ganga in his hair and sent only one stream of it to the earth. And then 60 thousand sons of King Sagar attained salvation by the touch of the holy water of the Ganges.
Since then this river Ganges is flowing on the earth. And it is said that the touch of its holy water washes away sins. And the sinners’ corpses get salvation.
It had become late night when Sheikh finished the story of Ganga coming on earth. I had sleep in my eyes. Sheikh said to me, now go to sleep.
Then we both slept, I was under the tamarind tree and Sheikh on the highest branch of the same tree.
I was in a deep sleep when I startled and woke up; I saw eagles and crows hovering above me in the sky. Perhaps they mistook me as dead and had come to eat the corpse.
I got up in a panic and looked at the river in which many dead bodies were flowing with holy water. Some corpses came to the river bank and were being eaten by dogs.
I looked at the tamarind tree in a flurry on which Sheikh was engaged in worship. Pointing to the corpses eaten by dogs on the banks of the Ganges, I said, O Sheikh! Have the sons of King Sagar not yet been freed from the curse of Kapil Muni?
The sheikh tried to open his mouth to answer me, but in the meantime a hawk snatched him in his paws and flew into the sky on the right.
For a while I looked up at the sky and after a while I saw the dust where Pigeon’s feathers were scattered around me.
