REJECTION OF FOOD FROM CALIPH

REJECTION OF FOOD FROM CALIPH
Haroon once sent with his servant a tray full of some delicious dishes to
Bahlool. When they were delivered, Bahlool diverted the food to a dog sitting
nearby. On seeing this, the servant protested saying that this was a disrespect
to the Caliph and he would report to him.
Bahlool retorted by asking the servant to keep quiet lest the dog also refused
to eat the food if it came to know that the food was from the Caliph.
His refusal to eat the food from the Caliph demonstrated his rejection of
favours lest it affected his heart to lean towards the tyrant Haroon. This
provides a lesson to us as to how we should avoid such favours in public and
religious service so as not to be distracted from one's principles of truth and
justice.
The following ayat. of the Holy Qura'n guides us not to lean towards those
who oppress people:
“And do not incline to those who are unjust, lest the fire touch you, and you
have no guardians besides Allah, then you shall not be helped.” (11:113)


ON THE THRONE OF CALIPH
One day Bahlool entered Haroon's palace and saw the throne of the Caliph to
be vacant and none of his guards standing nearby. Immediately he went and
sat on the throne. When the court men saw him on the throne, they went
forward and forced him to step down by beating him.
Bahlool started crying loudly and when Haroon entered the court, he asked
him the reason for crying. The courtiers explained what had happened. The
Caliph comforted him and at the same time scolded his men for the treatment
given to Bahlool., To this, Bahlool reacted by saying: “I am not crying for what
has happened to me, but I am crying for you, the Caliph. I have been made to
suffer so much only for sitting on the throne for a short while. How much are
you going to suffer for sitting on it for so long, because it belongs to someone
else while you are the usurper of it”.
Haroon was one of those pompous and oppressive kings from Banu Abbas
(descendants of Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib) who had usurped the caliphate of
the divinely appointed vicegerents of the Prophet. The above incident afforded
an opportunity to Bahlool to warn Haroon of the sufferings awaiting him after
death. That Haroon would not be able to escape the punishment for usurping
the rights of and oppressing the household members of the Prophet.
That the Prophet of Islam had foretold of the oppressive rulers to come and in
what way they would gain power can be readily derived from his following
saying:
"Verily times will dawn upon people When power and rule (over people) will
not be attainable except with bloodshed and oppression, ner wealth except
with by usurpation and miserlines