Ash-Shibli And Al-Junaid

Abu Bakr ibn ibn Dulaf Jahdar ('ash-Shibli'), and Abul Qasim al-Junaid, the 'Merak The Learned', are two early Sufi teacher. They both lived and taught more than a thousand years ago. The story about the ash-Shibli learning under al-Junaid, given here, taken from The Revelation of the Veiled, one of the important books in the field. al-Junaid own gain spirituality through the influence of Ibrahim ibn Adham ('Ibn Adhem' in poetry Leigh Hunt), he as a Buddhist, is a prince who abdicated follow tarekat (Way), and died in the eighth century.
Ash-Shibli, a proud member of the palace, went to al-Junaid, looking for true knowledge. He said, "I heard that you have the gift of knowledge. Give, or sell me. "
Al-Junaid said, "I can not sell it to you, because you do not have a price. I do not give to you, because you're going to have too low. You have to immerse themselves in the water, like me, in order to obtain a pearl. "
"What should I do?" Asked ash-Shibli.
"Go and be sellers of sulfur."
A year passed, al-Junaid said to him, "You go ahead as traders. Now a dervish, should not be anything other than begging. "
Ash-Shibli spent a year begging on the streets of Baghdad, without success. He returned to al-Junaid, and the Master said to him:
"For mankind, you now have nothing. Let them not nothing to you. First you are the governor. Return now to the province and find every person you used grinds. Apologize to them. "He went, found them all except one, and obtain their forgiveness.
Returning ash-Shibli, al-Junaid said that he still felt important. She underwent the following year by begging. Money earned, every evening brought to the Master, and given to the poor. Ash-Shibli themselves do not get food until the next morning.
He was accepted as a student. A year has passed, living as a servant to other students, he felt to be the least of all creatures.
He uses the illustration of the difference between the Sufis and those that can not be repaired anymore, to say things that can not be understood wider community.
One day, because speech is not clear, he was mocked as a madman in the community, by the detractor. He says:

    To your mind, I'm crazy.
    To my mind, you are all wise.
    So I pray to improve madness
    And increase your wisdom
    'Madness' of the power of love;
    Your wisdom of the power of the unconscious.

Syibili want to study with Junaid, he said, "Many people told me that the teacher is the expert number one problem pearl awareness and divine wisdom. Give me one of the pearls or sell it to me. "

Junaid smiling. "If I sell, you will not be able to afford. If I give you, you will underestimate, because it is so easy to obtain. Do likewise; dive into the Ocean. If you wait patiently, you will find your pearl. "

The Junaid  Student  tasks 

 

 Junaid al-Baghdadi, a Sufi figure, has protege extremely pleased him. Santri Junaid others became jealous. They can not understand why the sheikh gave special attention to the child.
One time, Junaid told all his students to buy chickens in the market to then kill it. But Junaid gave the condition that they must slaughter the chicken was in a place where nobody can see them. Before sunset, they should be able to complete the task.
One by one the students back to the presence of Junaid, all bring a chicken that has been slain. Finally when the sun sets, the young student recently arrived, with a live chicken. Santri the others laughed at him and said that the students were not allowed to carry out the orders of Sheikh so easy.
Junaid then asked each of the students to tell how they carry out their duties. Pupils first said that he had gone to buy a chicken, brought it into the house and lock the doors, close all windows, and kill the chicken. Pupils both told me that he brought home a chicken, lock the house, close the windows, bring the chicken to a dark bathroom, and kill it there. The third Pupils say that he brought it to the dark rooms chicken but he also closed his own eyes. With that, he think, no one can see that the chicken slaughter. Pupils others go into the dense forests and remote, then cut the chicken. Pupils others are looking for a very dark cave and kill chickens there.
It was the turn of young students who never managed to cut the chicken. He bowed his head, embarrassed because they can not run the command teacher, "I brought the chicken to my house. But in my house there is no place where he does not see me. I went into a dense forest, but he is still with me. Even in the midst of an extremely dark cave, he is still with me. I can not go to a place where nobody sees.