2.4.3.14 - Shaykh al-Ureybi in His Beginning

In the Holy Spirit, Ibn al-Arabi stated that he once asked his shaykh about how his spiritual life had been in the early days: He told me that his family”™s food allowance for a year had been eight sack-loads of figs,5 and that when he was in spiritual retreat his wife would shout at him and abuse him, telling him to stir himself and do something to support his family for the year. At this he would become confused and would pray, O my Lord, this business is beginning to come between You and me, for she persists in scolding me. Therefore, if You would have me continue in worship, relieve me of her attentions; if not tell me so. One day God called him inwardly, saying, O Ahmad, continue in your worship and rest assured that before this day is over, I will bring you twenty loads of figs, enough to last you two and a half years. He went on to tell me that before another hour had passed a man called at his house with a gift of a sack-load of figs. When this arrived God indicated to him that this was the first of the twenty loads. In this way twenty loads had been deposited with him before the sun set. At this his wife was most grateful and his family well content.