Ibrahim ibn Adham

Ibrahim Bin Adham was popularly known as Abu Ben Adhem or Abou Ben Adhem in the West due to a famous poem by James Henry Leigh Hunt. His full name was Sultan Ibrahim bin Adham, Bin Mansur al-Balkhi al- Ijli, Abu Ishaq.

His Life

He was born in Balkh on the east of Khurasan, into a family from the Kufa that were descendants of the second Caliph Omar bin Khattab.

He was the king of Balkh but abandoned the throne to become a Sufi saint. According to the Arabic and Persian sources like al- Bukhari ( d. 870) and many others, Ibrahim Bin Adham received a warning from God and abdicated his throne to take up the ascetic life in Syria. He died in 777-8 and is believed to be burried in Syrian town of Jabala.

His Legend

His legend enlarged gradually from al-Bukhari to Abu Nu'aym al-Isfahani and after its full formation around the eleventh century, expanded to central Asia under the Mongols, Anatolia under the Ottoman rule, North India in the age of the Tughluqids, and Malaysia during the seventeenth century as revealed in the works by R. Jones.

His Clans

Although his children continue to rule Central Asia, the kingdom came to an end after Farrukh Shah Kabuli's son was killed fighting Mongols and the uprooted family moved East to Punjab (now part of Pakistan and then to India and upto Bangladesh. Baba Farid Ganj Shakar the famous Punjabi poet and Sufi Saint was one of his descendants. Adhamies of South Asia call themselves Farooqi.

His Teachings

Value of Repentance

Mullah Ali Qari (RA) in his Arabic commentary of Mishkaat wrote an incident about Ibrahim bin Adham (RA), who was an eminent spiritual leader of his time. He writes that Ibrahim bin Adham said, “While walking one day I came across a wealthy young man who was spewing due to having drunk liquor. He vomited so much that flies started buzzing around him. This excessive spewing caused him to lose consciousness.” Upon initially seeing him Ibrahim bin Adham was very upset. The thought occurred to him that the very tongue that pronounces the name of Allah has been spoiled by the impurity of liquor. He fetched a pail of water and washed the vomit around his mouth. He prayed to Allah with the following words: “Oh Allah, though he is unworthy and disobediently involved in sin, You are my Friend and he is a servant of my Friend. In view of the fact that I consider him to be Your servant even though he is a sinner I will cast my attention on him, for he is nonetheless connected to You.”

The splash of cold water on his face immediately woke him up. He came to his senses and sat up. He said: “Ibrahim you are such a prominent Wali Allah (friend of Allah), he who has given up the Kingdom of Balkh, yet you are tending to a miserable drunkard like myself?” Ibrahim replied, “Seeing you in this disabled state aroused compassion in me. I saw you in a state where flies are buzzing around you, but because you are a servant of my Allah, I deemed it correct to serve you….” The young man was very surprised saying, “I was always under the impression that men of Allah look down upon sinners. Today have I come to realise that none are as compassionate upon sinners as the friends of Allah. Please give me your hands, so that I can make Taubah, I can repent for my sins and become Bayat to you.”

Sultan Ibrahim (ra) accepted his request for Bayat and made him repent from his sins. At that moment he received kashf (ability to see some hidden things) that this young man who had just repented had surpassed many pious individuals of that period.

The legend of Abu Ben Adhem in the West

He was popularly known as Abu Ben Adhem or Abou Ben Adhem in the West because of a famous poem by James Henry Leigh Hunt.

Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!)
Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace,
And saw, within the moonlight in his room,
Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom,
An Angel writing in a book of gold:

Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold,
And to the Presence in the room he said,
"What writest thou?" The Vision raised its head,
And with a look made of all sweet accord
Answered, "The names of those who love the Lord."

"And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so,"
Replied the Angel. Abou spoke more low,
But cheerily still; and said, "I pray thee, then,
Write me as one who loves his fellow men."

The Angel wrote, and vanished. The next night
It came again with a great wakening light,
And showed the names whom love of God had blessed,
And, lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest!