A great South Asian saint of the nineteenth century Syed Ghauth Ali Shah Qalandar (1804 – 188o) of Panipat, India, has recorded the following event in his book Tazkira-e-Ghauthia that provides an outstanding and marvelous piece of information about life after death and Aeraaf. This event took place when Syed Ghauth Ali Shah was the disciple of one of the great Sufi Masters of his time Hadrat Syed Shah Abdul Aziz Dehalvi.

Ghauth Ali Shah writes:

A man came to the court of Shah Sahib. By appearance he looked like a royal official. He said to him, “My story is so strange that no one believes me. My own cognition does not work. I do not know what to say, where to go, what to do. Finally I have come in your service.”

He then said, “I used to live in Lucknow. I had a job; things were great. Then my luck went sour and my economic conditions worsened to a point where I became jobless and could not find any work.

Then I said to myself that instead of sitting idle why not try my luck in a different city. I took some money for traveling expenses and set off towards Udaipur. On my way, I rested at a place called Rewari. At the time that place had nothing but a tent and an inn. A few prostitutes used to live there. I was sitting outside the inn wondering what to do because all my money had gone and I was not able to find any work. One of the prostitutes came towards me and asked me why I was not eating, as it was past the dinner hour. I told her I was tired from the journey and would eat after resting. She then went back to the inn. A few hours later she came back and asked the same question and I gave her the same reply.

Nevertheless, on the third time when she asked me I told her the whole story how I had ran out of the money and now I was thinking of selling my sword and the horse. After listening to my story, she went to her room quietly and moments later came back and gave me ten Rupees. When I hesitated to take the money she said not to worry because she had made that money with a spinning wheel and that she had saved it for her funeral. She said that she was giving me an interest-free loan and that I could return it whenever I was able to do so.

I took the money and after spending it on my way finally got to Udaipur. There fortunately I got a job at the royal post. Quickly I was promoted and in short period of time because of good pay and free housing I was able to make and save money. After spending a few years there I got a letter from home that my eldest son was now old enough to marry and that his would be in-laws were insisting on an early wedding. I had to be there to fulfill my duty as a father.

I applied for leave and it was granted shortly thereafter and I left for home. When I reached Rewari, the memories of the old days flashed right before my eyes. When I reached the inn and asked about that prostitute, I was told that she was sick and dying. When I got to her room she was breathing her last and moments later died right before my eyes. I arranged for her funeral and took her lifeless body to the grave myself. On returning from the funeral I went to the motel and slept. At midnight, I realized that my wallet, which had a draft of five thousand rupees, was missing. I looked for it but could not find it. Then I realized that I must have dropped it when I was loading her body in the grave. I went to the cemetery in the middle of the night and opened her grave.

“When I entered the grave to my astonishment there was neither the body nor the wallet that had my draft. However, I had not seen a door there earlier. It was slightly open. I gathered enough courage to open it but there was a different world inside. On all sides, there were gardens and lush greenery. In the middle there was a magnificent palace. When I entered the palace I saw an extremely beautiful

woman. She was dressed up in regal outfit with makeup and there were servants around her. She addressed me and said, “You didn’t recognize me? I am the one who gave you ten rupees. God liked my gesture and rewarded me with this glory and status. This is your wallet that fell in the grave. Take it and leave immediately.”

I said I wanted to see her garden for a while. That beautiful woman said I would not be able to see it entirely even if I stayed there until Day of Judgment. She said, “Leave immediately, you have no idea how far ahead the world must have gone by now.” I followed her advice and left the grave. Now there was neither the inn nor the tent nor that old township. Instead, a new city had sprung around it. When I asked some people about the inn, they were all unaware of it. When I told my story to some people they thought I was crazy. Eventually one of the people told me that he would take me to an old person who might know something about it. After listening to my story and after a brief pause he told me that his grandfather had told that some time ago there used to be an inn there. One night, a rich man had stayed in it and then mysteriously vanished. No one ever saw him or heard anything about him. I then told him that I was that rich man. After listening to me, the old man and his company were all taken aback.”

After relating this story the rich man asked Hadrat Shah Abdul Aziz, “Please tell me what I should do now, where I should go. I have no home, no family. This whole event has crippled me.”

Shah Sahib then said, “What you have seen is true. The scale of measurement of time in our world and that world is different.” He then advised that man, “Go to Mecca and spend your remaining days in the remembrance of God.”