The Tale of Ibrahim Ben Adham Great Muslim Sufi Saint From Khurasan Central Asia

Ibrahim Bin Adham (730–782), also known as Abu Ben Adhem or Abou Ben Adhem or Ibrahim Ben Adham was a muslim Sufi saint. Ibrahim Bin Adham was born in Balkh on the east of Khurasan in central asia. His family was from the Kufa and 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, Ibrahim Bin Adham received a warning from God and abdicated his throne to take up the ascetic life in Syria. He died in 782 and is believed to be buried in Syrian town of Jabala.

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. He is known as Abu Ben Adhem or Abou Ben Adhem in the West because of a famous poem by James Henry Leigh Hunt. Accounts of Ibrahim's life are recorded by medieval authors such as Ibn Asakir and Bukhari.

Ibrahim was born into the Arab community of Balkh as the king of the area in around 730 CE, but he abandoned the throne to become an ascetic. He received a warning from God, through Khidr who appeared to him twice, and, abdicated his throne to take up the ascetic life in Syria. Having migrated in around 750 CE, he chose to live the rest of his life in a semi-nomadic lifestyle, often travelling as far south as Gaza. Ibrahim abhorred begging and worked tirelessly for his livelihood, often grinding corn or tending orchards. In addition, he is also said to have engaged in military operations on the border with Byzantium.

His earliest spiritual master was a Christian monk named Simeon. Ibrahim later recounted his dialog with Simeon in his writings:

I visited him in his cell, and said to him, “Father Simeon, how long hast thou been here?” “For seventy years”, he answered. “What is thy food?” I asked. “O Hanifite”, he countered, “what hast caused thee to ask this?” “I wanted to know”, I replied. Then he said. “Every night one chickpea.” I said, “What stirs thee in thy heart so that this pea suffices thee?” He answered, “They come to me one day in every year and adorn my cell and process about it, so doing me reverence; and whenever my spirit wearies of worship, I remind it of that hour, and endure the labors of a year for the sake of an hour. Do thou, O Hanifite, endure the labor of a year for the glory of eternity.”

This book is story about life of Ibrahim Ben Adam, great muslim sufi saint from balakh, east of khurasan in central asia.