SHEIK AL RAEES BU ALI SINA-

THE GREAT AVICENNA

 

Name    : Bu Ali Sina

Title      : Sheik al Raees

Born      : Safar 370 H                           At     : Bukhara

Died       : 4 Ramadan 428 H                 At    :  Hamadan

Age        :  58 years

  

 

The History of Islam shows that the enemies of Al e Mohammed (s.a) always strived to keep the people ignorant of the identity of the Imam (a.s) of the times. The most heinous conspiracy in this direction was perpetrated during the time of the 6^th Imam (a.s). The rulers made the high claim that they were the scions of Bani Hashim and that they were the true successors of the Prophet (s.a). It was the claim of the scions of the Prophet (s.a)’s uncle, Hazrat Abbas, that they were the true Al e Mohammed (s.a)! They announced that they were the Ahl al Bayt! Any way! Anyone can make any claim but it isn’t easy to measure up to such claims. The first step they took to support their false claim was to do away with all those who are the scions of the Prophet (s.a)’s Ahl al Bayt (a.s). They thought that this would preclude any chances of challenge to their claim. Therefore the first ruler of the clan adopted the title of Safah—meaning one who sheds lot of blood—Abu Abd Allah Abbas al Safah. It needn’t be said who was the one who shed lot of innocent blood!. Then came Mansoor Duaniqi. The one mission of his life was to annihilate the Ahl al Bayt of the Prophet (s.a) and their followers. Their stratagem was not to directly inflict harm on the Infallibles (a.s) after witnessing the Tragedy of Karbala. But cunningly they adopted very subtle methods to martyr the Infallibles (a.s). However, in Baghdad they killed the Sayeds and incorporated their cadavers in new constructions. Their purpose was to do away with the Sayeds as fast as they could! But this conspiracy too didn’t work as Allah has said in the Holy Quran:

 

‘Innaaa ‘a’-taynaakal-KAWSAR  Lo! We have given thee abundance

 

The Sayeds survived this tyranny of Bani Abbas, grew and prospered as time passed!  When Mansoor Duaniqi saw his strategy failing, he devised a very unusual scheme. He thought that openly opposing the Ahl al Bayt (a.s) would bring to them negative consequences. People recognized them as the enemies of Al e Mohammed (s.a) and would turn against them. He thought of identifying such members from the Al e Mohammed (s.a) who were willing to behave the way the son of the Prophet Noah (a.s) did. Mansoor was able to get hold of two or three such persons. On 15 Rajab 148 H the Imam (a.s) was poisoned with the connivance of the governor of Madina, Salman, and according to the pre-conceived plan he established contact with the black sheep! This was the first time that three persons from the family of Ahl al Bayt (a.s) made false claims of being the Imams. This time two persons simultaneously made the false claim of Imamate.. One was Abd Allah Abtahi who was the eldest son of the Sixth Imam, Imam Jafar e Sadiq (a.s). He carried an impression in his mind that the eldest son of the Imam (a.s) should succeed him. This too was the reason that quite a few persons did accept hih claim. Thus sprang up the sub-sect, Abtahiya. Abd Allah Abtahi wasn’t mentally sound because, in a battle, he had received the stroke of a sword on his head that caused damage to his brain. In Arabic lexicon a person is called Abtahi whose head has been cracked and thus his mental equilibrium had been disturbed. This was also the reason that his false claim of Imamate couldn’t hold for long. Our Seventh Imam Moosa Kazim (a.s) was the third son of the Sixth Imam (a.s). The second son was Ismail, about whom the Sixth Imam (a.s) had said that he was his favorite son. But during the life time of the Sixth Imam (a.s) Ismail had died. The Imam (a.s) arranged his funeral with much care and attention. The entire populace was informed of the funeral procession to preclude any chance of people getting any misapprehension about Ismail’s death. As long as the Sixth Imam (a.s) lived, none had the courage to make any false claims about Ismail. But once the Imam (a.s) was martyred, his grand-son, Mohammed (the son of Ismail) made a false claim of Imamate in place of the Seventh Imam (a.s). Now there were two claimants of the imamate---Abd Allah Abtahi, the Imam (a.s)’s brother and Mohammed, the Imam (a.s)’s nephew! Mohammed’s claim was that his father, Ismail, hadn’t died and that he was in hiding and that he had appointed him, Mohammed, the imam in his absence. Thus grew the sect that is called the Ismailia Sect. But in the early times the sect was known as the Fatimid Sect. After 150 years the sect was bisected into two. There was a dispute over the imamate and the second sub-sect claimed that their imam had gone into hiding and had appointed a Daaee—one who gives Daawat or invitation to follow the sect. They said that the Daees will continue coming till their imam emerges from his hiding.

 

  

WHO WAS BU ALI SINA

 

A series of Daees came when there was a dispute over the authencity of the Daee and the sect got divided into two---Sulaimani Bohras and Dawoodi Bohras.

 

We are now discussing about a personage who was born in the Ismaili Sect but adopted the Right Path in his later life and spent his days as a true follower of the Ahl al Bayt (a.s). He doesn’t have any eminence as an Alim or Faqih but no history of Islam is complete without reference to him. His name is mentioned with great respect because he was the scion of a family which followed false imams but he had adopted the Right Path. This person was Sheik al Raees Bu Ali Sina who was a great physician, philosopher, mathematician and chemist. The Shii Sect is rightly proud of this great personage! We feel it is but proper to discuss at some length about this great person!

 

Bu Ali Sina was born in the month of Safar in the year 370 H at Bukhara and died on Friday, 4 Ramadan 428 H at Hamadan in Iran. He had a short life span of 58 years. In his short life he acquired so much learning that he was endowed with the title of Sheik al Raees or the Master of learning and Erudition! Among the followers of Ismail there was a person by name, Abd Allah, who hailed from Balq, a place in Russia. He heard that a person, Nooh ibn e Mansoor Samani, also a follower of the Ismaili Sect, had established suzerainity in Bukhara. Therefore, Abd Allah migrated from Balq to Bukhara. No sooner Abd Allah reached Bukhara, he was given a high position in the establishment there. After sometime he was transferred to the Revenue Department with the responsibility of collecting the taxes. His work took him to different provinces and cities. During his travels he chanced to visit a city, Akshana, where he married a woman. In the same city he was blessed with a son, Hussain. Since the child was born in Akshana, people started calling him Sina. Thus his full name became Hussain ibn e Abd Allah Sina. But he is more famous with his Kunyat---Bu Ali Sina. Bu Ali Sina was a multi-farious, multi-talented personality!

 

 

A HISTORICAL INCIDENT & SURPRISING CAPABILITY

 

There is a historical incident about Sheik Bu Ali Sina. While his father was in Akshana, in a city called Sina, a hermit came to his house. That hermit had some mysterious objects and powers. Such itinerant hermits do have these faculties. The hermit told that he was tired of traveling and wanted to sleep the whole night. But he asked to be awakened at a particular time during the night because that would be the moment when a very auspicious time would dawn on the universe! He said that he would have to offer special supplications at that time. Bu Ali Sina’s father remained awake the whole night and when that moment came he felt restless, went to his private quarters, and copulated with his spouse. He then had his bath and went to the hermit to awaken him. The hermit asked about the time. He was told that much time had gone by after the time he wanted to be awakened. The hermit was very sad and asked him the reason for the delay in awaking him. Bu Ali’s father said that his carnal urge was so intense that he couldn’t control himself. The hermit told him that the particular moment was very auspicious. He also said that the son that would be born in his house will be master of incredible capabilities.

 

Bu Ali Sina was born in 370 H and from the very beginning manifestations of unusual capabilities were seen in the child.    He had a tremendous memory and the capability of observing and understanding. In his childhood he had uttered a very incredible thing. He said that when he was born, he saw holes in the sky. It was a child’s talk. His mother was asked about it and she only expressed surprise! She said that the day he was born there were many flies around and therefore she had put a cloth mesh over him. Perhaps he had seen the sky through the mesh! The surprising thing was that he had remembrance of the day he was born after four or five years of his birth.

 

We shall recount two or three incidents of his youth. When Bu Ali Sina was 15 or 16 years old he went to Isfahan to further his studies. One morning he visited the king. At that time his age was about 20 years and pleaded saying that it was very difficult to stay in Isfahan and continue his education. The king asked him to explain his problem. Bu Ali Sina said that at Kashan, 200 kilometres from Isfahan, the iron-smiths used hammers the whole night and thus he wasn’t able to concentrate on his studies! He pleaded with the king to stop the iron-smiths from working in the nights. The king was astonished at the complaint of Bu Ali Sina that the sound produced 200 kilometres away was a source of disturbance for him. The king sent him away saying that he would discuss the matter with him later on! After Bu Ali Sina left the court, the king secretly sent a letter post-haste to the governor of Kashan to forthwith stop the iron-smiths from working in the nights for a week. After one week Bu Ali Sina went to the court again. He said that one week went very well as if the iron-smiths of Kashan had stopped working. Now the king understood that what Bu Ali Sina told a week ago was not in jest. Now the king issued an order that the iron-smiths shouldn’t work in the nights on a continuous basis! This event demonstrated the keenness of his sense of hearing! There is also the mention of the keenness of Bu Ali Sina’s vision in the books of history. One day he was sitting with a dignitary. That worthy was observing something at a distance with a telescope. In his view was a horse rider at a distance of 14 miles. The dignitary wanted to know who the person was. Surprised, Bu Ali Sina asked what was the need for a telescope to see a person at such a short distance. It was such a tall claim that the dignitary too was surprised. Bu Ali Sina said that he would immediately see the person and describe him in detail. He went near the window where the dignitary was seated. He described the person, the color of his dress, the expresson of his face that he was eating something sweet. The dignitary said that Bu Ali Sina had a very keen eye sight, but how was he able to know that the rider was eating something sweet and flies were hovering around his face? It may be accepted that the person is seen eating something, but how it can be said that the thing was something sweet and flies were seen around his face?  When the rider arrived, whatever Bu Ali Sina had said was confirmed!

 

Another faculty that Bu Ali Sina had was a tremendous memory. Whatever he heard or saw once, got etched deeply in his memory. A time came when he had to spend the life of an itinerant. The rulers of the time had turned inimical to him. Like a gypsy he was moving from one place to another. Bu Ali Sina has written a book on treatment of ailments titled “Al Qanoon”. The book is in four volumes and there are a total of 120,000 sentences in it. The book is extrtemely valuable. It is said that Hippocratus invented the system of medicine which survived only till he lived. Then came Galen (Hakeem Jalinoos) who revived the system. His work too went into hibernation after him. After Galen came Hakeem Raazi. But it was Bu Ali Sina who provided great impetus to the system of medicine with his monumental book “Al Qanoon”. This book was in the curricula of the schools of medicine in Europe till about 200 years ago with translations in Latin and English languages. Once it happened that Bu Ali Sina had to flee from one city to another to save his life from the ruler. The people of the city   he went to were aware of his erudition. Some learned persons there wanted to peruse his book “Al Qanoon”. He told them that with difficulty he escaped with his life from Khorasan and the book had remained there.The people were very disappointed that they didn’t have the chance of perusing such a valuable book. Bu Ali Sina told them thay needn’t have any worry that he could dictate the complete book if two persons sit in front of him to write it down! He did dictate those 120,000 sentences again! After some time his friends brought the original book from Khorasan. When the two books were compared, they were verbatim the same! If a person is asked to repeat what he talked of half an hour ago, he wouldn’t be able to do it. But Bu Ali Sina’s was incredible genius that he could reproduce the voluminous tome word for wordf!

 

It has also been recorded in the history that Bu Ali Sina was traveling from one city to another by boat. One of the passengers in the boat was an Arab scholar who had written a book on the Arabic Grammar. He was proud that none else had written such a book. The journey was for two to three days. Bu Ali Sina requested him to lend him the book that he could peruse it on the way. The Arab gave him the book. Bu Ali read the book and returned to the author. The author went to the ruler and told him about his book. The ruler gave the book to Bu Ali Sina, sitting near him, to scrutinize. Bu Ali Sina browsed a few pages and said that the same book was written earlier and what the Arab had brought wasn’t his original work! The man claimed that he worked long hours for a long period to write the original book. Bu Ali asked him to open any page of the book and tell him a few words on the top of the page and he would repeat the rest of the contents himself! The poor author opened one page of the book and Bu Ali Sina did tell the full contents of that page. When he saw the author totally confused, Bu Ali Sina told the ruler that in fact the good book was the work of that Arab which he had borrowed during the journey on the boat and read but once! The ruler did give a reward to the author but he was astonished at the great memory of Bu Ali Sina.

 

THE MEMORY OF MANSAOOR DUANIQI

 

It is said that Mansoor Duaniqi too had incredible memory. He never forgot what he heard once. He had a slave who didn’t forget anything if he heard it twice. There was a slave girl in his retinue who remembered a thing for ever if she heard about it thrice! Mansoor Duaniqi was a very stingy person. Although he was tight fisted he wanted to hear eulogies from poets with promises of rewarding them handsomely. In their greed poets used to compose eulogies, go to the court and recite before him. Mansour would say that it wasn’t a new composition and he would himself recite the poem to the poet. When the poet insisted that it was his new composition, Duaniqi would ask his slave to recite saying that he too knew the poem. Then he would ask his slave girl too to recite the composition. Thus Mansoor enjoyed the poetical compositions without rewarding the poets!

 

Now, about Bu Ali Sina! He was a scholar of the Faith, a Mujtahid and he wouldn’t do anything against the norms of the Shariah. Although his early life was wayward, he reformed himself in the later years. It is said about him that when he was 18 years he went to the capital along with his father. Since his father was a cleric of the Ismaili Faith, learned men of the creed used to assemble at his place and take part in discussions. Whatever Bu Ali Sina thought to be useful, he retained in his memory. Those days there was a scholar, Abd Allah Baqri, in the capital. Bu Ali started taking lessons from him. After sometime the teacher thought that the pupil knew more than him and thust stopped teaching him. Around that time Bu Ali’s father was transferred to Bukhara. The governor of Bukhara fell seriously ill. All the physicians treated him, but to no avail. Bu Ali was in his early youth. He went forward and said that he would treat the ailment of the governor. The governor was so hopeless of recovering from the disease that he agreed to allow the lad to treat him. The treatment was so effective that the governor recovered in a few days. He wanted to reward Bu Ali Sina. He said that he just wanted access to his library. Those days the books were in the form of manuscripts and they had to be treated with great care. Generally people didn’t allow others to handle their books. The four or five years that Bu Ali spent in Bukhara, he regularly visited the library. In the meantime the governor expired. After some time Bu Ali’s father too expired. Accidentally the library caught fire and the entire collection was burnt. Bu Ali gathered the people and told them that he remembered the contents of all the books and if he was provided the help of copyists, he would dictate all the books. But some persons were his enemies. They told to the governor, the son of the previous governor, that Bu Ali had on purpose burnt down the entire library to ensure that none else acquired learning and, with his incredible memory, he would keep all the knowledge to himself. With this backbiting, the new governor became Bu Ali Sina’s enemy. He escaped with difficulty from Bukhara!

 

MIGRATING TO KHWARIZM

&

DEVELOPING LOVE FOR THE AHL AL BAYT (A.S)

 

He then reached the territory of Khwarizm. The ruler there was Ali ibn e Maimoon. He was an admirer of erudition and learning. He invited Bu Ali Sina to the court and kept him there for a long time. He had gathered many scholars of caliber in his court. But after some time came a powerful king, Mahmud Ghazni. He too wanted to have great scholars as his courtiers. Ali bin Maimoon told the scholars in his court to shift to Mahmud’s court of their free volition as he didn’t have sufficient strength to fight with Mahmud Ghaznavi. All the scholars went away but Bu Ali Sina stayed back. The main reason for his refusal was that he had changed his religious beliefs. He was now a follower of the Ahl al Bayt (a.s). Mahmud Ghaznavi was very bigoted and an enemy of the Ahl al Bayt (a.s). His aim in life was to massacre the followers of the Ahl al Bayt (a.s). Bu Ali Sina knew that Mahmud would become his enemy because of his love for the Ahl Al Bayt (a.s). Ali Bin Maimoon told Bu Ali Sina that if he continued to live at the court of Khwarizm, Mahmud would attack. He therefore left the court and roamed around for 20 years. Wherever he went, he was welcomed for his erudition and scholarship. But when the rulers of those places knew that he was Bu Ali Sina, they asked him to leave their territory out of the fear of reprisals from Mahmud Ghaznavi. Despite all the troubles, Bu Ali Sina didn’t abandon the love for the Ahl al Bayt (a.s). He knew pretty well that the moment he changed his beliefs, Mahmud would shower largesses on him. He was such a great scholar that the entire Europe recognized his prowess.

 

 

HIS BELIEF IN HAZRAT ALI (A.S)  &   HIS WAY OF LIFE

 

Bu Ali Sina had composed a quartet which says that Allah has written the name of Ali (a.s) on every human face twice in an inverted manner.. He said the Arabic alphabet “Ain”---the first alphabet in Ali (a.s)’s name, is the eye. The straight bone of the nose is the alphabet “Laam’---the second alphabet in Ali (a.s)’s name. He said that the eye-brows are like the alphabet “Yaa- the third and last alphabet in Ali (a.s)’s name. If you write Ali in Arabic and look at it, it would look like the human face! Bu Ali Sina was the first to come up with this idea.

 

This was the peak of his love for the Ahl al Bayt (a.s). But his early life was spent as a Ismaili, then he turned to the Zaidiya beliefs. He was deeply engrossed in philosophy and logic. But sometimes these disciplines take a person astray. There was a time when he manifested an attitude of infidelity in his behavior. The Ulema of all the schools declared him an infidel at one time! But ultimately dawned the day when he became the follower of the Ahl al Bayt (a.s) and followed the Right Path till his death! Although he wasn’t an Alim of the Faith, he was a scholar in his own rights. He knew that without practicing the Faith, there will not be any meaning in his love for the Ahl al Bayt (a.s). Therefore, the day he adopted the love for Ahl al Bayt (a.s), he shunned the use of alcohol, distributed all his wealth in charity and stopped being cruel or unkind to others. He returned all the money he had obtained from anyone in a wrong manner. He started reciting the Holy Quran regularly and used to finish one reading of the Book in three days. The day the love of Ahl al Bayt (a.s) came in his heart, he totally stopped doing anything sinful. He was a true lover of the Ahl al Bayt (a.s).

 

  

PERSONS SEE THE PROPHET (S.A) IN THEIR DREAM

 

 

It is recorded in the books of history that Bu Ali Sina was seen with the Prophet (s.a) twice by persons in their dreams. One incident is recorded by Sheik Mujaddi Deen Baghdadi, a Sunni scholar. He writes that he, Sheik Baghdadi, saw in his dream that he had reached the presence of the Prophet (s.a). He asked the Prophet (s.a), in the dream,.his opinion about Bu Ali Sina whether he would get Allah’s pardon for his past sins? That was the time when Bu Ali Sina was following the wayward path. The Prophet (s.a) told to the Sheik that Bu Ali Sina was one person who was seeking Allah without making access to him (the Prophet s.a). He (the Prophet s.a.) therefore pushed him into the Hell by putting his hand on his chest..

 

Then we have anther incident reported by Sheik Bahai in his book “Kashkool”. A Momin used to pass by the grave of Bu Ali Sina in Hamadan. The person used to offer prayers for the persons buried in the grave yard, but he never prayed for Bu Ali Sina thinking that he didn’t die on the Right Faith! One night the person slept and saw the Prophet (s.a) in his dream. He saw Bu Ali Sina sitting near the Prophet (s.a). The person was much surprised to see Bu Ali in the company of the Prophet (s.a). He told to the Prophet (s.a) that Bu Ali Sina wasn’t following the Right Path and why he was allowed to be so close to the Prophet (s.a)? The Prophet (s.a) gave only one reply to the person, “O person, despite your ignorance you know that the faith of the persons following only Six Imams (a.s) isn’t right. Then how is it possible that the erudite, learned, Bu Ali Sina wouldn’t recognize the True Faith?”

 

When Bu Ali Sina’s adoption of the True Faith became well kown to the people, Mahmud Ghaznavi too learnt that he was a follower of the Ahl al Bayt (a.s). But Bu Ali Sina was the least worried. He was ready to sacrifice his life for the love of the Ahl al Bayt (a.s)!

  

A FAMOUS INCIDENT ABOUT CHANGE IN WAY OF LIFE 

.

    . .   This is a well known incident about Bu Ali Sina which drastically changed his life. That was the moment when the love for Ali (a.s) and the Ahl al Bayt (a.s) got established in his heart. He shunned the use of alcohol and gave up all taboo habits. He started regular recitation of the Quran. Once he was traveling with a caravan, which was customary those days. The group consisted of persons who were singning, drinking alcohol and missed their obligatory prayers on the way. The caravan used to travel all the day. Bu Ali Sina desired to read the Quran or some other book. But the din created by the youths in the caravan was so much that he wasn’t able to do it. He was very upset traveling with the group. He thought of a way to punish them. In the night when the people of the caravan slept, he tied the chains of the animals of the caravan in a particular way. During the day when the animals traveled, the chains made some jingling sound that the travelers in the caravan fell asleep. The caravan kept moving the whole day, without any din or noise, as if the men were in semi-delirium. The men spontaneously kept smiling all the while. The next night he tied the chains of the animals in another manner. When the caravan moved the next morning, the sound produced by the chains made the men cry spontaneously. They kept crying the whole day. The men thought of stopping their cries, but they couldn’t do it. The men thought that there is some secret that had made them smile one whole day and cry on the next day. The next night when Bu Ali Sina went near the animals to repeat his act, the men caught him. When they knew that it was the great Bu Ali Sina who was very much disturbed with their singing and noise during the journey, they begged his pardon and the journey continued peacefully.

 

 

HEALING A PRINCESS

 

When Bu Ali Sina was a youth of 18 yeaars, he had the opportunity of treating a princess. The princess was ill for a long time despite being treated by 70 eminent physicians of the time. The seventy physicians put their heads together and devised several ways of treating her, but to no avail. The condition of the princess was deteriorating day after day. Bu Ali Sina’s father was in the employ of the king. When the conference of the physicians was over, Bu Ali Sina obtained access to the chambers where the physicians were seated. He asked them what conclusion they had arrived at for the treatment of the princess. They said that such-and-such was the cause of the disease and they delineated the line of treatment. Bu Ali Sina spelled out seventy reasons that their diagnosis and line of treatment was erroneous. The physicians accepted his arguments and said that they hadn’t thought of those aspects.The king witnessed the discussion and was astonished at the dexterity of the youth. The king was keenly interested to know the line of treatment suggested by Bu Ali Sina. He explained in a few minutes the disease the princess was suffering from and the line of treatment. Within a few days the princess was restored to health and Bu Ali Sina established his reputation as a physician of very high caliber.He had a very sterling quality. He always encouraged others and was always ready to disseminate his knowledge!

 

 

AN INCIDENT IN ISFAHAN 

 

He was passing through the bazaar of Isfahan when he noticed a small child asking an iron-smith to give him some embers of burning coal that he wanted to take home for his mother. The child gave money to the iron-smith for the burning coal. The man asked him if he had brought any container to carry the red hot coal. The child said that he had forgotten to bring it, but he took sand from the ground, put it on his palms and asked the man to put the burning, hot coal on it. Bu Ali Sina was much surprised that.the child of four years was so intelligent. He asked the child his name. He said that he was Bahman Yar. Bu Ali Sina asked the child to become his disciple. The child grew into a famous philosopher of his timew and a trusted lieutenant of Bu Ali Sina.

 

 

 

AN INCIDENT AT HAMADAN  &   THE BELIEF ON PROPHETHOOD

 

Once Bu Ali Sina was told that he was such a big scholar that none could debate with him on any subject. Therefore, if he claimed prophethood none else would be able to challenge and defeat him with sound arguments. There were suggestions that he should make such a claim. Bu Ali Sina said that he would suitably reply to them, after some time, why he wasn’t competent to make claims of prophethood. This incident happened in Hamadan. Hamadan is a city in Iran where winters are very cold and it snows intensively. It was wintertime, snowing much and very cold winds were blowing. In the olden days people used to retire to their beds early and rise early in the mornings. It is another matter that some didn’t stir out of their beds for prayers and remained tucked in their comforters, although fully awake! It was early morning , the call of the Mu-Azzin was heard from the minaret of the mosque. Bu Ali Sina awoke. He had awakened Bahman Yar, his disciple. Both were in a closed room, the embers were burning bright in the fire-place but both persons were shivering in their comforters with cold. Bu Ali Sina asked his disciple to do a task. He asked him to go out, drink some cold water and come back to the room. Bahman Yar was surprised at this suggestion. He asked why he should go out in the severe cold and drink water? Bu Ali Sina gave him a strong medical argument in support of the suggestion. Bahman Yar said that he might die if he went out in the cold and refused to stir out. Bu Ali Sina said that this was the reason why he couldn’t make a claim of prophethood. He told him that despite being his disciple, despite being aware of his learning, bahman Yar was refusing to go out in the cold. He said that the justification of the claim for prophethood was for the person who passed away four hundred years ago and under his instructions the sounds of the Adaan was heard from the minarets of the mosques in the severe cold and the believers stirred out of their homes, despite the harsh cold and winds, and joined the congregation! He told to Bahman Yar that his word hadn’t so much weight as to convince his own disciple to perform a small task on his command! When one considers the argument of Bu Ali Sina, one understands the greatness of the Prophet (s.a) that till the Day of Reckoning his claim to prophethood would hold. Similarly the claim to Imamate of the Infallibles (a.s) would remain till the end of the time! A mention of their names brings tears in the eyes of their followers!

 

 

BU ALI SINA’S COMPETITION WITH HIS DISCIPLE

 

 

Once a very interesting debate took place between Bu Ali Sina and his disciple, Bahman Yar. It was a long, philosophical argument and only a summary is being mentioned here for the easy comprehension of the readers. One topic of discussion in philosophy is that man changes with time, as do the other animals and plants. Bahman Yar too believed that man changes every second. Bu Ali Sina said that there will be no change in the human being with passage of time. After long, inconclusive argument, Bu Ali Sina became quiet. Bahman Yar insisted on getting a reply to his argument from his mentor. The people said why he was keeping quiet and not replying to his disciple. Bu Ali Sina said that Bahman Yar had a right to ask the question again and again! The men said that he had put an argument in front of him. Bu Ali Sina said that Bahman Yar’s argument was that man changes every second. He said that, according to his argument, he was a changed,different,  Bu Ali Sina and therefore not liable to give any reply to him! Bahman Yar accepted defeat. He accepted that, after all, a mentor is a mentor!

 

 

THE LAW OF NATURE

 

There is a law of nature that when a person thinks that he is perfect in his skills, it shatters him and his pride is dashed to the ground. Once Hazrat Moosa (a.s) had such a thought and he was sent to Hazrat Khizr (a.s) to experience what is knowledge. Bu Ali Sina too experienced a similar problem. He had started thinking that he was the most perfect physician of all. He heard that in a particular town there lived a physician who was able to tell the food a person had consumed only by looking at his face. After writing his book, Bu Ali Sina thought that Hippocratus (Buqraat), Galen (Jalinoos) and Raazi, all great physicians had become things of the past and that he was the greatest of them all! But he heard that the physician in that small town wiuld put his hand on the pulse of a person and say what all he had eaten! Bu Ali Sina now thought that his knowledge was incomplete and imperfect! He was very curious to visit that physician and experience his skills. He went to the physician and sat with him all day long and saw him telling his patients what each one had eaten. When the visiting hours were over, Bu Ali Sina wanted to ask him some questions. When Bu Ali Sina identified himself, the physician said that his visitor was a more accomplished physician than himself. He asked the physician how he was able to tell his patients what they had eaten? The physician said that the people in the town were very clumsy. Whenever they ate, they spilled partiles of the food on their clothes. With his keen observations the physicians, in most cases, was able to find out what the person had eaten. When he noticed a seed of melon on the dress of a person, he knew that he had eaten melon, when he saw marks of a vegetable on the clothes of another patient he knew what vegetable he had consumed. Bu Ali Sina went home saying that it was a small matter but nature had shattered his unnecessary instinct of pride!

 

 

THE LAST DAYS OF BU ALI SINA  &  HIS DEATH 

 

 

When we consider the life of Bu Ali Sina, we understand the difference between the Ulema of the Religion and the scholars of the worldly disciplines. The history tells us that Bu Ali Sina spent 20 to 22 years as an itinerant wanderer and ultimately came to the court of the king of Isfahan. Now Bu Ali Sina was a true lover of the Ahl al Bayt (a.s). He was a much married person. As a result of this he started getting fits of epilepsy. He got himself treated. The treatment required doing enema seven to eight times every day. His intestines got damaged because of this repeated operation. One of his slaves was inimical to him. The person mixed some mild poison and opium in his medicine. After taking the medicine he went so weak that it was difficult for him even to stand up. The ruler of Isfahan had to travel to Hamadan on some important work. Bu Ali Sina requested him to take him along on the trip. He said that he wanted to visit the place where he had spent most of his youth. He reached there and on 4 Ramadan 428 H he breathed his last!

 

                                                                                               

        Source Urdu Lectures of Moulana Sadiq Hassan Book  

 

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