Normal Reasons Do Not Affect in Reality and that the Only One Who Affects in Reality is Allah
Al-Hakim, the author of Al-Mustadrak, mentioned in his book Tarikh Naysabur:
I heard Zakariyyah Yahya Ibn Muhammad Al-^Anbariyy saying, “I heard Abu ^Isa Ibn Muhammad Ibn ^Isa At–Tahmaniyy Al-Marwaziyy saying: ‘Certainly Allah Makes apparent whatever He Willed, if He Willed, of signs and lessons of His creations. Then by those signs Islam would be increased in honor and power, and it supports the Guidance that was Revealed and the Evidence that was Revealed, and it spreads the Signs of Prophethood, and it clarifies the indications of the Messenger.
‘As Generosity from Him, those signs and lessons would more firmly establish the reality of iman for His Waliyys; and it gives them more evidence and proof against those who refused to obey Allah and left out His Religion. Then whoever was tortured would be tortured with evidence, and whoever was rewarded would be rewarded with evidence.
‘So to Him is the praise, no one is God but He, the One with the Ultimate Evidence, the One with the Dominating Might, the Extremely Powerful One; and may the Salah of Allah be upon our Master Muhammad, the Prophet of Mercy and the Messenger of Guidance, and upon his pure Al is the salam and Mercy of Allah and His Blessings.
‘Among what he have seen with our own eyes and witnessed in our time, and known about it with certainty, and as a result our certainty about our Religion increased, and our faith in what our Prophet came with and the truth to which he called was increased, and it encouraged the practice of jihad because of the status of the martyrs; and it increased our faith in what he conveyed from Allah the Mighty and Honored about the martyrs, which is that He, may His praises be glorified, Says in the Qur’an:
﴿وَلَا تَحْسَبَنَّ الَّذِينَ قُتِلُوا فِي سَبِيلِ اللَّـهِ أَمْوَاتًا بَلْ أَحْيَاءٌ عِندَ رَبِّهِمْ يُرْزَقُونَ * فَرِحِينَ﴾
[which means] “Do not consider those who were killed fighting for the sake of Allah as dead; in fact, they are alive to their Lord, and they are provided for, happy,” is that I came in the year 238 to a city of Khuwarizm. It is west of the valley of Jayhun, and from that city to the largest there is a distance of half a day. I was informed that there was a woman among the wives of the martyrs, she saw a dream as if she was fed something in it, and she does not eat anything or drink anything since the time of Abul-^Abbas Ibn Tahir, the Governor of Khurasan; and before that he had died by eight years, may Allah Accept his deeds.
‘Then I passed by that city in the year 242, and I saw her, and she told me her story, but I did not take good care to document all of what she told me because of my youth. Then I returned to Khuwarizm at the end of the year 252, and I found her still alive, and her story was widespread. This city is in a place where the caravans passed by, and many of those who settled there, if her story reached them, they would love to go look at her. So they would not ask any man, woman or child except that they would know her and give the indication to where she was.
‘When I reached the area, I sought her and found her outside of the town by many farsakhs. So I went after her by following her traces from village to village, and caught up with her between two villages. She walked in a strong fashion, and she was a middle-aged woman with a good stature and high breast; the blood was apparent in her, her cheeks were rosy, and her heart was intelligent. She walked while I rode; I offered her a ride and she did not take it, and she started walking with me strongly.
‘Among the people who were traveling with me in the session were some traders and landlords, and among them was a scholar who is called Muhammad Ibn Hamdawayh Al-Harithiyy—and Musa Ibn Harun Al-Bazzar took from him in Makkah—a middle-aged man who was worshipful and narrated hadith. Also there was a nice young man named ^Abdullah Ibn ^Abdur-Rahman, and he used show the people of his area who had cases how to swear in front of the judge. I asked him about her, and they praised her greatly and said good about her. They said, “Her situation is clear to us. There is not any one among us who differs about her.”
‘The one who is named ^Abdullah Ibn ^Abdur-Rahman said, “I heard her story since I was young. I was growing up, and the people were talking about her story all the time; I dedicated attention to her situation and busied myself with researching it. I did not see except that she was a good, chaste woman, I did not some across any lie in her claim, and I did not find any trickery or any deception.”
‘He mentioned some of the people who work for the governors around Khuwarizm; in the past they used to summon her, and they would put her in a house for a month, two months, or more and lock her in it. They would appoint someone to observe her, and they would not see her eating or drinking nor find any trace of urine or feces. Then they would set her free, and they would give her clothing and let her go. So when the people of the area had all agreed to her truthfulness, I asked her her story, and her name, and I asked her all about her situation.
‘She mentioned that her name was Rahmah Bintu Ibrahim, and that she had a husband who was a poor carpenter. His livelihood was by the work of his hands, and his provision came to him day by day. What he earned was never more than what he needed for feeding his family. She had given birth to a number of children for him.
‘Al-Aqta^, the king of the Turks[1], came to the town. [She said] “When the river froze, he crossed the valley and came over to us with three thousand horsemen. The people of Khuwarizm call him Kasra.”[2] Abul-^Abbas said that this Al-Aqta^ was an extremely unjust blasphemer with a strong enmity towards the Muslims. He had been troublesome to the people on the borders, and insisted on capturing people of Khuwarizm and killing and raiding them. The governors of Khurasan used to appease him and his likes among the leaders of the non-Arab [blasphemers] to minimize their harm on the citizens and their bloodshed of the Muslims. They would send each one of them money, lots of trinkets, and different types of fine clothing.
‘One year this blasphemer was disrespectful to the ruler, and I do not know why that was. Were the gifts late? Or did he consider that what was sent to him was inferior to what was sent to the other kings? He came with his army and blocked the roads. He killed and maimed and committed corruptions and atrocities. The horsemen of Khuwarizm were unable to defeat him. The news of his attack reached Abul-^Abbas ^Abdullah Ibn Tahir, may Allah have Mercy upon him, so he dispatched four commanders: Tahir Ibn Ibrahim Ibn Mudrik, Ya^qub Ibn Mansur Ibn Talhah, Mikal Mawla Tahir and Harun Al-^Arid. He loaded the town with soldiers and weapons and arranged them into four segments of the region. Each commander took a quarter. They protected the women by the Will of Allah.
‘Furthermore, the valley of Jayhun at the highest point of the river of Balkh froze over when the cold intensified. It is a great river, it is very treacherous and destructive to the crops. When the river expands its width would be about a farsakh, and if it would freeze it would become a level surface, and nothing beneath it can be reached unless a hole is dug into it like digging wells out of boulders. I have seen the thickness of the ice ten handspans, and I was informed that in the past it would exceed twenty handspans. When it would freeze it would serve as a bridge for the people of the area; the soldiers, the pack animals, and the caravans would pass over it, and so what is between the two banks would become arranged. Sometimes it would remain frozen for one hundred twenty days. If in a year the cold would be less, it would remain for seventy days to about three months.
‘The woman said that the blasphemer crossed over with his horsemen to the door of the fortress. The people sought refuge in the fortress and gathered their belongings there. So they attacked the Muslims in the morning and harmed them, and so the people of the town were detained inside. They wanted to go out, but the magistrate prevented them until the soldiers of the Sultan and the volunteer fighters arrived, and so some young men strapped up and went close to the wall of the fortress with whatever weapons they could carry.
‘They attacked the blasphemers, so the blasphemers faked a retreat and pulled them away from between the buildings and walls. When they got outside, the blasphemers returned to them, and the Muslims wound up in something like the forest. They sought cover and took a structure to fight from behind it; they were separated from the fortress, and help was far from them. They battled the most severe battling; they stayed firm until their bowstrings popped and their bows snapped, the tiredness reached them, and they were touched by hunger and thirst. Most of them were killed and the rest were inflicted with severe injuries. When the night came, both factions fell back.
‘The woman said that the fires were lit on the mountaintops the hour the blasphemer crossed over. The signal reached Jurjaniyyah, which is a large city on the outskirts of Khuwarizm, where Mikal Mawla Tahir was with his army, so he rushed to respond out of reverence for the Amir, Abul-^Abbas ^Abdullah Ibn Tahir, may Allah have Mercy upon him. He ran to Hazarasb in a day and a night, forty Khuwariziyy farsakhs, and those were much bigger than the Khurasaniyy farsakhs.
‘The blasphemer decided to wipe out the band the next day. When that was in progress the black flags showed up, and they heard the sounds of the drums, so they retreated from the people, and Mikal reached the battlefield. He buried the dead and carried the wounded.
‘The woman said, “That evening we had four hundred funerals in the fortress; there was no house except that there was a dead person carried to it. It was a widespread tragedy, and the whole region shook with crying.” She said, “My husband was placed in front of me dead. So I was overcome with extreme sadness and crying, as a young woman would cry over her husband, the father of her children, and we had dependents. The women of my family and neighbors gathered to help me through the crying. The children came, and they were babies; they had no concept of the issue. They asked for bread, and I did not have any, and my chest was tightened by my situation. Then I heard the adhan of Maghrib, so I went to resort to the prayer. I prayed what my Lord Ordained for me, then I prostrated, supplicating; and I was beseeching Allah the Exalted, asking Him for patience and for Him to Mend the orphanage of my children.
“Then sleep took me away in my prostration. I saw myself in my dream as if I was in a beautiful land with many stones. I was seeking my husband. A man called me, ‘Where are you going, O free woman?’ I said, ‘I am seeking my husband.’ He said, ‘Go to the right.’ I saw a level land; it was fragrant and had plenty of greenery, and behold, there were palaces and buildings that I am unable to describe, and the likes of which I have never seen, and there were rivers flowing on the face of the earth without banks.
“I ended up at some people who were sitting circle by circle. They were wearing green clothing and they were engulfed in light, and behold, they were the people who were killed in the battle, eating from food laid out for them. I started going between them and examining their faces so that I would meet my husband. However, he saw me, and so he called me: ‘O Rahmah!’ So I followed the voice and behold, he was in the same situation in which I saw the other martyrs. His face was like the full moon. He was eating with his companions that were killed with him that day.
“He said to his companions, ‘This poor woman has been hungry all day. Do you permit me to give her something to eat?’ They permitted him, so he gave me a piece of bread.” She said “I knew at that time that it was bread, but I do not know how it was made. It was whiter than snow and milk, sweeter than honey and sugar, and softer than butter and fat. I ate it, and when it settled in my belly, he said: ‘Go. Allah has Given you sufficient food and drink for the rest of your life in the dunya.’ I woke from my sleep satiated and quenched. I needed neither food nor drink, and I have not tasted them since then until this day of mine, nor anything the people eat.”
‘Abul-^Abbas said, “She used to sit with us. We used to eat and she would gag, and take hold of her nose, claiming that she is harmed by the smell of the food.”
‘So I asked her, “Do you seek nutrition from anything, or drink anything other than water?” She said “No.” I asked her, does gas and waste come out of her like other people? She said: “I have not experienced waste since that time.” I said, “And menstruation?” I think that she said, “It stopped when the eating stopped.” I said, “Do you have the women’s need for men?” She said, “And you are not shy of me to ask me the likes of this?” I said, “It is so I could tell the people about you, and it is necessary that I would be thorough.” She said, “I do not need it.” I said, “Do you sleep?” She said, “Yes, the sweetest of sleep.” I said, “What do you see in your dreams?” She said, “Like you see.” I said, “Do you experience weakness because of the lack of food?” She said, “I have not felt hunger since I was fed that food.”
‘She used to accept charity. I said to her, “What do you do with it?” She said, “I clothe myself and my children.” I said to her, “Do you feel the cold, and are you harmed by heat?” She said, “Yes.” I said, “Do you become tired when you walk?” She said, “Yes, am I not a human?” I said, “Do you make wudu’ for salah?” She said, “Yes.” I said, “Why?” She said, “The scholars ordered me with that.” I say: They have given her this fatwa from the hadith that wudu’ is not obligatory except for impurity or sleep.
‘She mentioned to me that her stomach is stuck to her back, so I ordered a woman who was with us, and she looked (i.e., without looking at her ^awrah), and her stomach was as she described. She took a bag, stuffed it with cotton, and tied it to her stomach so that her back would not snap when she walked. I never ceased to visit Hazarasb every two or three years, and she would meet with me and I would repeat the questions. She would not add anything or omit anything. I presented her talk to ^Abdullah Ibn ^Abdur-Rahman the faqih; he said, “I have heard this talk since I was raised, and I have never found anyone who denies it, or claims that he heard that she eats or drinks or defecates.”’”
This story proves that there is no necessary intellectual relation between the lack of food and sickness, the loss of health, and degeneration of the body. Likewise, it is mentally valid that the rest of the normal reasons would be devoid of their results. Furthermore, it proves that things are by the Will of Allah the Exalted, and that the martyrs have a life in the graves. Glory be to the One Who has Power over everything.
[1] They were blasphemers at that time.
[2] The title of the old Persian kings.