The Sorcerer's Apprentice

There is the account in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim of the king and the young boy. Many scholars would attribute this account to the events between Dhū Nuwās and the Christians in Yemen — they would say that the king was Dhū Nuwās. That account is in Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim. It says that the king used to deal in magic, and he had a sorcerer as his advisor. So this sorcerer was growing old in age, and he told the king, "I might pass away at any moment, so I need to train someone to take my place. I need to inherit my skills to someone who would carry on." So they tried to find a very bright and intelligent young man, and they handpicked a young man, and they assigned him as an apprentice with this sorcerer. So he was supposed to leave very early on in the morning from his house and go and study under the sorcerer, and then come back home at night.

Now this young man, on his way towards the sāḥir, the sorcerer, saw a place of worship, and he heard prayers coming in from this place, which were different. So he decided to go and visit, and it was a church of tawḥīd, of unity of Allah, preaching the true religion of ʿĪsā (peace be upon him). And he was very impressed by what he was hearing, but he's supposed to be studying with the sorcerer. So he asked the priest — he told him, "What can I do?" The priest told him, "When you leave home, visit me and come and study with me, and then go to the sorcerer. And if he tells you, 'How come you were late,' tell him, 'Because my parents delayed me.' On your way back, visit me. And when you get home, when your parents tell you, 'How come you're late,' tell them, 'The sorcerer delayed me.'" So he could take a class in the morning and take a class in the evening. So he continued doing that for a while.

One day, in the marketplace, a certain beast entered into the marketplace and caused chaos among the people, and no one was able to deal with it. So this young man said, "Oh Allah, today I want to know whether the path of the priest, or the path of the sorcerer, is the truth. So, oh Allah, show me the truth." And everyone was attempting to kill this beast, and no one succeeded. And then this boy picked up a rock and he said, "Oh Allah, if the path of the priest is the truth, then kill this animal." And he threw the rock, and it killed the animal immediately.

He went back and reported this to the priest. He told him what happened. The priest told him, "My son, today you have achieved, attained a very high status. Therefore, you will be tested. You will go through trials. No one can reach such a high status without being tested by Allah." In exams, the better the student, the more difficult the exam should be — because you want to tell the difference between the levels of the students. So you have easy questions, which everyone is able to answer, and then you have medium difficulty, and then you have difficult, and then you have very difficult, because you want to distinguish the A-plus from the A-minus. You want to tell the difference. Same thing: Allah (swt) has brought us on this earth for a test, and according to your level, you would be tested. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) says — ashaddu al-nāsi balāʾan al-anbiyāʾu, thumma al-amthalu fa-al-amthal. The ones who go through the most difficult tests are the anbiyāʾ, and then it goes down according to your level.

This priest was telling the young man, "You will be tested," and then he told him, "And when you are tested, don't disclose my name" — because the priest was doing his daʿwah in secret, and he doesn't want his name to be exposed. This is not out of fear; this is for the security of the daʿwah. So he told him, "And when you go through trials, don't mention my name." And, as will be seen, the priest was a very courageous man. Why is he saying, "Don't mention my name"? What is he afraid of? How come he can't just go outside and say, "Here, I'm a Muslim," and invite everybody openly? Why is he afraid? Why is he keeping it secret? But, as will be seen, the priest was a very courageous man, though he was a wise man too.

The associate of the king was blind, and he came to this young man to cure him, because now the young man has studied under the sorcerer, so now he's the expert, people go to him. So when he went to the young man, the young man told him, "I can't heal you, but Allah can heal you. Allah can do it." And he healed the man. So the blind man, who was now cured, went to the king, and the king told him, "Who cured you?" The man said, "Allah." The king said, "And do you have a god other than me?" The man said, "Yes, Allah is my lord and your lord." The king tortured this friend of his and told him to disclose the name of the person who taught him this, and under the persecution he gave up the name, and said, "It is the young man, the boy." Now they brought in the boy, and they started to torture him, and the boy, under duress and pain, did give up the name of his teacher, the priest — he couldn't sustain the pain and suffering that he was going through, so he disclosed the name.

So now they brought the priest, and they told the priest to give up his religion, and he refused. So they brought a saw, and they placed it on top of his head, and they cut him into two, but he refused to give up his religion. This is the courage that he had, and this is the perseverance and the patience — he gave up his life. He was tortured brutally, but he never gave up his religion.