Shaykh Abdul Hakim al Afghani was a big scholar who taught in Syria many years ago. At that time, it was hard to find books with heavy citation of hadith (meaning, when the ahadith were cited, explanations were often not included), thus many times the students of knowledge had to learn not only from the books, but with a scholar as well to elaborate. This scholar was very knowledgable and was known throughout the city.
He charged nothing for the knowledge he gave. Some of his students would sometimes bring him food, but he would make them promise not to tell their families that it was for a Shaykh, for fear that they may give him a lot of food. Subhan’Allah, it gets even more amazing.
People began to wonder where he gained his livelihood, and how he could live if he did not charge for the classes he held. One day, some of his students followed him. He left the city and made his way to a far village on the outskirts of the city where the people did not know him (in the city he was known as a big scholar.) there, his students who had followed him saw that he worked in masonry (brick-work, making bricks).
Subhan’Allah, wallahu akbar! He is an amazing example for us. In this day and age when people charge an arm and a leg for knowledge, this person was truly an example to live by. Instead of reaping worldly profits from the knowledge he shared, he did whatever job he could to gain his livelihood.
Now, his student (the same one who related this story to his son, who related it to the person who told me) was performing Hajj with another student many years later. They were in Madina when he had a dream. In his dream, the Prophet Muhammad SAW came to him and said “Today, the man whom the world did not affect him, has passed away.” When the student woke up, he made his way to fajr when he came upon his friend. He related the dream, and his friend had had the exact same dream! They knew that Shaytan could not impersonate the Prophet Muhammad SAW in a dream, so their dream must have meant something.
When they returned to Syria, they found that on that same night when they had had the dream, Shaykh Abdul Hakim al Afghani had passed away.
Wallahu ta’alaa ‘alam.
Ma’asalam.
