The 600 Year-Old Unbeliever
An anecdote from Khazīnat al-Jawāhir by ʿAlī Akbar Nahāwandī (d. 1950)
The following anecdote is related in Kīmīyā-yi dhikr via ʿAbd al-Karīm Kashmīrī:
In the time of Moses, there lived a 600 year-old unbeliever. Throughout his long life, this unbeliever had never once prostrated before God nor had he ever done any good. He had spent his entire life engaged in devilish pastimes.
One day when Moses was setting out for Mount Sinai to converse with God, this unbeliever mocked him saying, “Are you headed to talk to your God, Moses?” When Moses said yes, the unbeliever said, “Tell your God that I have never once believed in him. It is beneath me to believe that he is the one who provides me with sustenance and I don’t want anything from him.”
Angry and saddened, Moses went to Sinai to converse with his lord. While Moses was speaking to God, he heard God say, “Why didn’t you tell me what my servant said?” Moses said, “I was too ashamed to repeat such things before you.” God said, “Convey my greetings (salām) to that unbeliever and tell him that, if it is beneath him to acknowledge that I am his lord, it is not beneath me to acknowledge that I have a servant like him. And although he doesn’t want anything from me, he should know that I am so kind and merciful that I provide him with his sustenance anyway.”
After hearing this, Moses went back to that unbeliever, who said, “Did you tell your God what I said?” Moses said, “Yes and my God said this and that.” The unbeliever was astonished. He turned to Moses, lowered his head out of shame, and said, “You have a wonderful God.” He fell to the ground and prostrated before God. Right there and then, God commanded the angel of death ʿAzrāʾīl to take the unbeliever’s life while he was still prostrating. It is said that this man, who disbelieved in God for 600 years and had only just become a believer, went straight to heaven.
From my point of view, the value of this anecdote lies in the fact that it was ʿAbd al-Karīm Kashmīrī who related it. May God sanctify his soul.