Unbroken Record The Messenger of Allah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said: “If you have complete trust in Allah, He will provide for you as He does for the birds. They leave their nests hungry in the morning and return satisfied in the evening.” [Tirmidhi] Sultan Selim, the ninth Uthmani Khaleefa (1512-1520), was to travel across the Sinai desert along with the colossal Ottoman army on his campaign for the conquest of Egypt. The Mamlukes then governed Egypt and their Sultan’s name was Tomanbai. Tomanbai was sure that Sultan Selim would not be successful in crossing the desert with so much military hardware and such a large infantry, and as a result, would suffer a great defeat. The Sinai desert proved its roughness all the way through with its scorpions, snakes, mosquitoes, burning heat during the day and freezing cold with temperatures below zero at night. The Sultan, noble and majestic, was walking on the scorching sands in front of his army. He was in a state of reverence and humility. His glance was fixed at a certain point, as if he were following a track, which was leading towards eternity. All the viziers and commanders were of the view that the Sultan was doing it deliberately just to keep the soldiers’ spirits up. However, the soldiers had grown extremely tired of walking for hours. The viziers requested the Sultan, “Your Majesty, would you please mount your horse, so that the soldiers can follow suit?” Sultan Selim’s eyes were wet with tears when he replied, “Can’t you see? How can I mount my horse when Rasulullah (sal Allahu alaihi wa sallam) himself is walking in front of us?” When the soldiers came to know, their teardrops mixed with the heavy downpour in the desert, an absolute gift from Almighty Allah. The Ottoman army crossed the Sinai desert on foot in thirteen days, which is still an unbroken record, its secret pending to be solved.
Posted on: Thu, 30 Jan 2014 04:43:37 +0000
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