Once Hazrat Syed Ahmed Kabeer Rafai RE, who was one of the great saints of his time, was walking through the Bazaar. He saw a sick dog on the street who was so sick that he wasn't even able to walk. Hazrat Rafai RE took pity on him and brought him home. He got the dog treated and kept looking after him till he regained his full health. After that he asked his companions if someone was willing to take the dog home and continue to look after him, otherwise he will look after the dog himself. And that is how he continued to look after the dog.
Some time after this incident happened Hazrat Rafai RE was going somewhere walking on the narrow pathway between cultivated fields. It was raining and there was mud on both sides of the pathway. A dog came from the other side. The pathway was so narrow that both of them couldn't cross it simultaneously, and one would have had to step into mud.
It is narrated that there was then a dialogue between Hazrat Rafai RE and the dog. Only Allah Ta'alah knows how this dialogue took place but following is the dialogue that has been narrated. Hazrat Rafai RE asked the dog to step into mud so that he could pass. The dog replied, "why should I step into mud? You pass yourself off as a saint. True saints sacrifice their own comforts for other people. What kind of a saint are you that you are asking me to step into mud for you? Why don't you step into mud and let me pass?"
Hazrat Rafai RE said, "the point is that I am Mukallif (accountable) and you are not. I have to pray Namaz (Salah) and you don't. If you step down and get dirty it won't matter as you don't have to do ablution. But if my clothes get dirty I will have to clean myself up and wash my clothes before I can pray."
The dog replied, "if your clothes get dirty it can be remedied easily. You can wash them and they will get clean again. But if I step out of your way into mud your heart will become dirty, because you will start thinking that you are a human being, I am a dog, and that is why you are superior to me. And this thought of superiority will make your heart so dirty that there will be no way to clean it." This thought touched Hazrat Rafai so much that he stepped down into mud and let the dog pass.
After this incident Hazrat Rafai RE got a revelation from Allah Ta'alah that "O' Ahmad Kabeer! Today I have bestowed such wisdom upon you which is mightier than all other wisdom combined. Because you had taken pity on a dog and showed kindness towards him some time ago, that is why I have imparted this wisdom upon you through a member of his flock, as a reward. That wisdom is that a human being should not consider himself superior to even a dog, and should not consider even a dog inferior to himself."
Adapted from the talk "Tawazu, a means of greatness", by Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani DB
Some time after this incident happened Hazrat Rafai RE was going somewhere walking on the narrow pathway between cultivated fields. It was raining and there was mud on both sides of the pathway. A dog came from the other side. The pathway was so narrow that both of them couldn't cross it simultaneously, and one would have had to step into mud.
It is narrated that there was then a dialogue between Hazrat Rafai RE and the dog. Only Allah Ta'alah knows how this dialogue took place but following is the dialogue that has been narrated. Hazrat Rafai RE asked the dog to step into mud so that he could pass. The dog replied, "why should I step into mud? You pass yourself off as a saint. True saints sacrifice their own comforts for other people. What kind of a saint are you that you are asking me to step into mud for you? Why don't you step into mud and let me pass?"
Hazrat Rafai RE said, "the point is that I am Mukallif (accountable) and you are not. I have to pray Namaz (Salah) and you don't. If you step down and get dirty it won't matter as you don't have to do ablution. But if my clothes get dirty I will have to clean myself up and wash my clothes before I can pray."
The dog replied, "if your clothes get dirty it can be remedied easily. You can wash them and they will get clean again. But if I step out of your way into mud your heart will become dirty, because you will start thinking that you are a human being, I am a dog, and that is why you are superior to me. And this thought of superiority will make your heart so dirty that there will be no way to clean it." This thought touched Hazrat Rafai so much that he stepped down into mud and let the dog pass.
After this incident Hazrat Rafai RE got a revelation from Allah Ta'alah that "O' Ahmad Kabeer! Today I have bestowed such wisdom upon you which is mightier than all other wisdom combined. Because you had taken pity on a dog and showed kindness towards him some time ago, that is why I have imparted this wisdom upon you through a member of his flock, as a reward. That wisdom is that a human being should not consider himself superior to even a dog, and should not consider even a dog inferior to himself."
Adapted from the talk "Tawazu, a means of greatness", by Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani DB
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