THE STORY OF THE BEWITCHED PRINCE

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A certain King had only one son. The boy was quite handsome and had a good character. It was the King's desire and intention to have the son married to a beautiful princess and in this regard he started talking to a religiously minded and righteous family. At this stage the prince's mother started having second thoughts. She said to her husband: "You are looking at righteousness and fear of God, but you do not see that these people are inferior to you as far as honour, respect and wealth are concerned".

The King replied:
"Begone, O Foolish One, he who chooses the sorrow of concern of De en, Allah will remove all other worldly cares from Him".

EXPLANATION:

The cares of the hereafter are like the staff of Nabi Moosa (A.S.), which swallows all the snakes of the sorcerers. Similarly, the sorrows and concern for the hereafter, swallows all the sorrows of the world. In this respect let us look at the couplets of the humble author of these lines:   .

"You will be freed from the cares of both worlds,
If you have concern in you for the hereafter".

At last, the King managed to persuade his wife towards his view and the marriage of the prince took place to the beautiful princess. After the marriage, they waited a long time but there was no sign of the princess bringing forth any offspring. This caused the King great worries. He was thinking: "What is wrong? This princess is pretty and young. Why is she not becoming pregnant?"

The King gathered his advisors and consulted secretly with the Ulama and saintly ones. At last it was discovered that the prince was under a spell from an old woman who had bewitched him. The effect of the witchcraft was that he was feeling great dislike and aversion towards his wife and used to go to the ugly old woman. For quite a time, as a result of this witchcraft practised on him, he was in love with the ugly old woman.

When he heard this, the King was very sad and displeased. He immediately started giving a lot of charity and fell into prostration, crying bitterly before his Lord. Before he could stop crying, a man from the unseen appeared before him and said: "Come with me to the graveyard". The King followed him to the graveyard. There they went to a very old grave and dug into it. Then he dug up and showed the King a hair with a hundred knots on it - articles of witchcraft - on which sorcery had been practiced, and then been buried there. The man blew upon every knot and opened it. As he did this, the young prince became healed of his ailment. As soon as the last knot was opened, the prince was saved from the love he felt for the old woman. His eyes gained proper sight and he no longer detested his wife. He stopped looking at the old woman with eyes filled with love, in fact he felt great dislike and aversion for her.

When he now looked at his young and beautiful wife, he was so struck by her beauty that he fell down unconscious. Slowly he regained his senses and gradually he was able to bear her beauty.

Maulana now tells his lessons from this story: He says: "O people, you are like that prince and this world is like that ugly old woman who has bewitched the lovers of this world. As a result of this spell they fall in love with the outside appearance of this temporary life, while turning their backs towards Allah, Rasulullah and towards the life of the hereafter.

In actual fact, the reality of this world is as much as Hazrat Majzoob (R.A.) says:
"Actually it is a picture of devastation although appearing like being built up.
That is its only reality, a mere dream and deceit
That man's eyes are closed and man a mere fiction".

Haroun-al-Rashid's son, who discarded his father's Kingdom and chose a life of poverty, shortly before his death spoke to a friend of his, in these words:

"The world says: O, my friend, do not become deceived by my pleasures,
For life is ending and the pleasures will end.
And when you carry a corpse to the grave,
Then remember that after him you too will be carried".

We learn from this story that the treatment for the person whose eyes have become bewitched by this world is:
(1) to have a sincere and deep love for the Saints of Allah,
(2) to remember death at all times,
(3) to stay in the company of the saintly ones as much as      possible,
(4) to discard own opinions and to listen attentively to their             instructions and to act accordingly,
(5) to perform two rak'ahs salaah, beg forgiveness and          beseech Allah for His guidance.

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