It is said that when Bayazid Bestami was asked who his master was, he explained:
She was an old woman.
One day, I was possessed by such ecstasy and yearning and sense of unity that not even a hair of anything else could be found in me. In this selfless mood, I went for a stroll in the desert, where I happened to meet an elderly lady burdened with a bag of flour.She asked me to carry the flour for her, but I was incapable of taking it, so I beckoned to a lion to take the load. The lion came up to me and I laid the sack upon its back. I then asked the old lady what she intended to say to the townspeople since I did not want them to apprehend who I was.
“I’ll tell them,” she replied, “that I met a vain tyrant.”
“What are talking about?” I exclaimed.
The lady explained thus, first asking: “Has the lion been put to trouble or not?”
“No,” I answered. –
“Except for the fact that you burden down those whom God Himself has not burdened!” she objected. “Is that not oppression?”
“So it is”, I admitted.
“And, despite this”, she continued, “still you desire the townspeople to know that you have subjected a lion and are a miracle worker. Is that not vanity?”
“Yes, it is”, I confessed.
So I repented, experiencing abasement from my former exaltation. Indeed that old woman’s words performed the function of a spiritual guide and master for me.
May Allah Guide Us In This World And Bless Us With The Next
15th night of Sha'baan
Hadhrut Aa-ishah [radhiallaahu anhu] relates that the Nabiy once inquired from her: `Are you aware of the virtue of this night, (meaning the middle night of Sha-baan)?’ She asked: `What is the significance O Rasool of Allaah?’ He then said: `It is on this night that each one of the sons of Aadam who shall be born is determined, and each one of the sons of Aadam to die that year is fixed. It is on this night that the deeds of every person is presented, and their sustenance apportioned’.