which it was said, “O Mūsā! Inform the Banī Isrā’īl to remain pleased with Me; I will then be pleased with them.”^[1]

A student of Shaykh Abū ꜤAlī Daqqāq رَحْمَةُ الـلّٰـهِ عَلَيْه revealed, “I know when Allah is pleased with me or not.” When asked how, he replied, “When I am pleased with Him, He is pleased with me.”

The flood that came to a standstill

There was once a pious person who lived in a village. Everyone respected him deeply and would ask him to pray for them. A river passed nearby to this village. Once, the banks of the river burst and the water began gushing towards the village. People were anxious about this, as the water was building up to be a flood. They ran to the pious person and asked him to pray for them. He ordered for them to bring shovels and other tools with them to the riverbank.

The pious man led the way as the village inhabitants headed to the river. They all believed they would be fixing the broken river banks, but to their surprise, the pious person began breaking what was left of them. Seeing this, people were hugely disappointed and returned with broken hearts. They had no way of escaping the flood now. Terrified, they climbed upon the roofs of their homes with their children to avoid the impending water.

After a while, they observed the water coming towards the village was slowly subsiding. It eventually stopped completely. They also saw the pious man returning with his shovel on his shoulder. Surprise gripped the entire village. They rushed down from their roofs, went to him and exclaimed, “What happened? How did the flood stop?”

He explained: