Bayazid Bastami & the Rabbi
One day Hadhrat Bayazid Bastami rahmatullah alayhi while in meditation, saw himself in a synagogue dressed as a Jew. At first he was confused, but when he kept on seeing the same vision over and over again, he decided to enact it. So, he dressed himself as a Jew and went to their synagogue.

When the Jews and their scholars were present, their chief Rabbi stood up to speak. But when he stood up, his tongue became stuck and he could not talk. After he had been standing quietly for some time, the Jews started to complain. The Rabbi said, “In this gathering there is a follower of the Prophet Muhammed (sallalahu alayhi wassalam) and I cannot speak because he has come to examine us.”

On hearing this, their anger raged like wildfire and they asked the Rabbi to give them permission to kill this follower of the Prophet Muhammad (sallalahu alayhi wassalam). The Rabbi replied, “He cannot be killed without proof, so we must talk to him peacefully and respectfully and then we can decide.”

The Rabbi then said, “Oh follower of Muhammad (sallalahu alayhi wassalam). For the sake of your Prophet please stand up in your place. If you can remove our doubt about Islam then we shall accept Islam, but if you can’t, then we shall kill you.” On hearing this, Hadhrat Bayazid rahmatullah alayhi stood up and gave permission for them to question him.

Rabbi: What is one and not two?
Bayazid: Allah.

Rabbi: What is two and not three?
Bayazid: Night and day.
[Qur’aan chapter 17 verse 12:
“And we made night and day two examples.”]

Rabbi: What is three and not four?
Bayazid: The Throne, Chair, and the Pen of Allah.

Rabbi: What is four and not five?
Bayazid: The Torah, Bible, Psalms, and the Qur’aan.

Rabbi: What is five and not six?
Bayazid: The five compulsory Prayers.

Rabbi: What is six and not seven?
Bayazid: The six days in which the Earth, the sky, and whatever is in between them was created.
[Qur’aan chapter 50 verse 38:
“And we created the Sky and the Earth and whatever is between them in six days”]

Rabbi: What is seven and not eight?
Bayazid: The seven skies.
[Qur’aan chapter 67 verse 3,
“Who created the seven skies layer upon layer!”]

Rabbi: What is eight and not nine?
Bayazid: The bearers of the throne of Allah.
[Quraan chapter 69 verse 17:
“And they will lift their Lord’s throne on themselves on that day, eight persons. “]

Rabbi: What is nine and not ten?
Bayazid: The villagers of Hadhrat Salih peace be upon him in which the mischief mongers lived.
[Qur’aan chapter 27 Verse 48:
“And in that city there were nine persons who created mischief on the Earth, and they didn’t amend. “]

Rabbi: What is ten and not eleven?
Bayazid: The person who performs a minor pilgrimage along with the major one and doesn’t have the capacity to sacrifice an animal, he has to keep ten fasts.
[Qur’aan chapter 2 verse 196:
“So keep the three Haj days and seven fasts when you return”.]

Rabbi: What is eleven, twelve and thirteen things which Allah has mentioned?
Bayazid: Hadhrat Yusuf had eleven brothers.
The twelve months in a yea.,
[Qur’aan chapter 9 verse 36:
“The number of months, with Allah , is twelve months”.]
Hadhrat Yusuf saw thirteen things prostrating to him.
[Qur’aan chapter 12 verse 4:
“I saw in a dream eleven stars, the sun and the moon, I saw them (for my sake) prostrating (to me)”.]

Rabbi: Which is that nation which lied and went in to paradise and which is that nation which said the truth and entered hell?
Bayazid: Hadhrat Yusuf’s brothers lied but they went to paradise.
[Qur’aan chapter 12 verse 17:
“Oh father! We went out to run and we left Yusuf with our belongings, then he was eaten by the wolf.”]
The contradiction between the Christians and the Jews was true but they went to hell.
[Qur’aan chapter 2 verse 113:
“And the Jews said that the Christians are not on any path, and the Christians said that the Jews are not on any path, even though they all read the book.”]

Rabbi: What is the meaning of
Qur’aan chapter 51 verse 1-4:
By the ships that scatter broadcast; And those that lift and bear away heavy weights; And those that flow with ease and gentleness;
And those that distribute and apportion by Command?

Bayazid: The meaning of flying scattered ships is air, the meaning of weight carrying ships is water filled clouds, the meaning of calmly sailing ships is boats, and the meaning of the last is the angels which distribute the sustenance.

Rabbi: What is that thing which has no soul nor any connection with breathing, yet it breathes?
Bayazid: It is the dawn, for it has no soul but it still breathes.
[Qur’aan Chapter 81 verse 18:
“And the morning, when it breathes.”]

Rabbi: What are those fourteen things to which Allah talks with honour?
Bayazid: The seven earths and the seven skies,
[Qur’aan chapter 41 verse 11:
Then He said to it and to the Earth, come both of you with happiness or hardly, They said we will come happily.]

Rabbi: Which is that grave which moves the person in it around?
Bayazid: The fish of Hadhrat Yunus alayhi salaam.
[Qur’aan chapter 37 verse 142:
“Then the fish took him as a morsel”.]

Rabbi: Which is that water which neither came up from the earth nor down from the sky?
Bayazid: The water which Hadhrat Sulaiman alayhi salaam sent to Bilqis, Queen of Sheeba, for it was the sweat of a horse.

Rabbi: What are those four things which had no father nor were born from a mother’s stomach?
Bayazid: The sheep of Hadhrat Ismail, the she camel of Hadhrat Salih, Hadhrat Adam and our mother Eve alayhi salaam.

Rabbi: Whose blood flowed first on the Earth?
Bayazid: It was Habil’s (Abel) when Qabil (Cain) killed him.

Rabbi: What is that thing which Allah created and then bought?
Bayazid: A believers soul.
[Qur’aan chapter 9 verse 11:
“Allah bought from the Muslim’s their souls.”]

Rabbi: What is that voice which Allah created and then spoke ill of?
Bayazid: The donkey’s voice.
[Qur’aan chapter 31 verse 19:
“Without doubt the worse voice is of a donkey.”]

Rabbi: What is that creation that Allah created and from it’s greatness created fear?
Bayazid: Women’s scheming.
[Qur’aan chapter 12 verse 28:
“Truly, mighty is your scheming.”

Rabbi: What is that thing that Allah created and then asked about?
Bayazid: The staff of Hadhrat Musa.
[Qur’aan Chapter 20 verse 17:
“And what is that in your right hand, Oh Musa? He said “This is my staff.”]

Rabbi: Who are the most pious of the women and what are the blessed rivers?
Bayazid: The most pious women are Hadhrat Eve, Hadhrat Khadija, Hazart Aisha and Hadhrat Fatima.
The most blessed rivers are the Oxus, Simwon, Tigris, Euphrates and Nile.

Rabbi: Which is the most blessed mountain and the most blessed animal?
Bayazid: Mount Toor in Makkah and the horse.

Rabbi: Which is the best of all months and the best of all nights?
Bayazid: The month of Ramdhan and the Night of Power.
[Qur’aan Chapter 2 verse 185:
“The month of Ramdhan in which the Qur’aan was revealed.”
Qur’aan chapter 97 verse 3:
“The night of power is better than a thousand months.”]

Rabbi: There is a tree which has twelve twigs, each twig has thirty leaves, and each leaf has five fruits, two in the sun and three in the shade. What is the meaning of this tree?
Bayazid: The tree means one year, the twigs mean the twelve months, the leaves represent the thirty days, and the fruits are the daily prayers, two of which are prayed in the day and the remaining three which are prayed at dawn, at dusk, and in the night time.

Rabbi: What is that thing that circled around the Ka’abah in Makkah even though it had no soul?
Bayazid: The boat of Hadhrat Nuh alayhi salaam. In the time of the flood it arrived in Arabia and circled around the Ka’abah.

Rabbi: How many prophets did Allah send as Messengers?
Bayazid: Only Allah knows, but in narrations it is said that Allah created 126,000 prophets from which 313 were Messengers.

Rabbi: What are those four things whose roots are one but their colours and tastes are different?
Bayazid: Eyes, ears, mouth and nose.
The wetness of the eye are sour, the wetness of the ears is acid, that of the noses is also acid and the wetness of the mouth is sweet.

Rabbi: What is the voice of the donkey called?
Bayazid: It is the curse on the tax takers.

Rabbi: What is the voice of the dog called?
Bayazid: Doom on the dwellers of Hell by the anger of Allah.

Rabbi: What is the remembrance of the ox?
Bayazid: SubhanAllah wa bihamdihi, subhanAllah il adheem.

Rabbi: What is the remembrance of the camel?
Bayazid: HasbunAllahu wa ni’mal wakeel.

Rabbi: What is the remembrance of the peacock?
Bayazid: Huwal wadud, dhul ‘arsh il-adheem.

Rabbi: What is the beautiful recitation of the nightingale?
Bayazid: So remember the pure Allah when it is morning and evening.

Rabbi: What is that thing which Allah sent revelation on, but it was not human, Jinn or Angel?
Bayazid: The honey bee.
[Qur’aan chapter 16 verse 68:
“And your lord gave order to the honey bee.”]

After this the Rabbi couldn’t ask any more questions and became quiet. Hadhrat Bayazid rahmatullah alayhi said, “Now you give me the answer to my one question. What is the key to paradise?” The Rabbi replied, “If I give the answer to this question, this gathering will kill me.”
The gathering shouted in one voice “We shall not do anything. Now tell us the true answer!”

The Rabbi then said, “Listen! the key to paradise is:

There is no God worthy of worship except Allah and Muhammad peace be upon him is His Messenger!”

On hearing this the whole gathering accepted Islam and Hadhrat Bayazid rahmatullah alayhi returned giving thanks to Allah.

Source: yanabi