The Pilgrimage

Ali ibn Muwaffaq is reported to have said, “ I performed the Pilgrimage one year, and when it was the night of ‘Arafat I slept in the Mosque of al-Khayf at Mina. I saw in dream as though two angels clothed in green came down from the sky. Then one of them called to the other, ‘O slave of God’, and he (the other angel) replied, ‘Here am I, O slave of God.’

The former continued, ‘Do you know how many performed pilgrimage to the House of our Lord the Most High this year?’ He answered, ‘ I do not know.’

‘Six hundred thousand have performed the pilgrimage to the House of our Lord.’ The other asked, ‘But do you know how many of them were accepted?’ He answered,’No.’

‘Six persons,’ the other concluded. Then he ascended into the air and disappeared from me, and I woke up in fright. I was very much distressed and my condition greatly disturbed. I continued to meditate upon the multitude of people (who attended that year’s pilgrimage as compared to) the small number of whom were accepted.

I fell asleep, and all of a sudden there were before me the two figures having descended again in their same form. And one of them called the other repeating the same words as before. Then he said, ‘Do you know what decision our Lord made this night?’

‘No,’ the other said.

He said,’He has given every one of the six, a hundred thousand.’ Then, I woke up with such rejoicing as cannot be described.”

Source : Al-Ghazali, The Secrets of Pilgrimage.