Chapter 2 :part 2

Story 24

I complained to one of the sheikhs that a certain man had falsely accused me of lasciviousness. He replied: 'Put him to shame by thy good conduct.'

Be thou well behaved that a maligner

May not find occasion to speak of thy faults.

When the harp is in proper tune

How can the hand of the musician correct it?

Story 25

One of the sheikhs of Syria, being asked on the true state of the Sufis, replied: 'In former times they were a tribe in the world, apparently distressed, but in reality contented whereas today they are people outwardly satisfied but inwardly discontented.'

If my heart roams away from thee every hour,

Thou wilt find no tranquillity in solitude

But if thou possessest property, dignity, fields and wares,

If thy heart be with God, thou wilt be a recluse.

Story 26

I remember having once walked all night with a caravan and then slept on the edge of the desert. A distracted man who had accompanied us on that journey raised a shout, ran towards the desert and took not a moment's rest. When it was daylight, I asked him what state of his that was. He replied: 'I saw bulbuls commencing to lament on the trees, the partridges on the mountains, the frogs in the water and the beasts in the desert so I bethought myself that it would not be becoming for me to sleep in carelessness while they all were praising God.'

Yesterday at dawn a bird lamented,

Depriving me of sense, patience, strength and consciousness.

One of my intimate friends who

Had perhaps heard my distressed voice

Said: 'I could not believe that thou

Wouldst be so dazed by a bird's cry.'

I replied: 'It is not becoming to humanity

That I should be silent when birds chant praises.'

Story 27

It once happened that on a journey to the Hejaz a company of young and pious men, whose sentiments harmonized with mine, were my fellow-travellers. They occasionally sung and recited spiritual verses but we had with us also an a'bid, who entertained a bad opinion of the behaviour of the dervishes and was ignorant of their sufferings. When we reached the palm-grove of the Beni Hallal, a black boy of the encampment, falling into a state of excitement, broke out in a strain which brought down the birds

from the sky. I saw, however, the camel of the a'bid, which began to prance, throwing him and running into the desert.

Knowest thou what that matutinal bulbul said to me? What man art thou to be ignorant of love? The Arabic verses threw a camel into ecstasy and joy. If thou hast no taste thou art an ill-natured brute.

When a camel's head is turned by the frenzy of joy And a man does not feel it, he must be an ass.

When the winds blow over the plain

The branches of the ban-tree bend, not hard rocks.

Whatever thou beholdest chants his praises. He knows this who has the true perception. Not only the bulbul on the rosebush sings praises But every bramble is a tongue, extolling him.

Story 28

The life of a king was drawing to a close and he had no successor. He ordered in his last testament that the next morning after his death the first person entering the gate of the city be presented with the royal crown and be entrusted with the government of the realm. It so happened that the first person who entered was a mendicant who had all his life subsisted on the morsels he collected and had sewn patch after patch upon his clothes. The pillars of the state and grandees of the court executed the injunction of the king and bestowed upon him the government and the treasures; whereon the dervish reigned for a while until some amirs of the monarchy withdrew their necks from his obedience and kings from every side began to rise for hostilities and to prepare their armies for war. At last his own troops and subjects also rebelled and deprived him of a portion of his dominions. This event afflicted the mind of the dervish until one of his old friends, who had been his companion when he was yet himself a dervish, returned from a journey and, seeing him in such an exalted position, said: Thanks be to God the most high and glorious that thy rose has thus come forth from the thorn and thy thorn was extracted from thy foot. Thy high luck has aided thee and prosperity with fortune has guided thee till thou hast attained this position. Verily hardship is followed by comfort.'

A flower is sometimes blooming and sometimes withering. A tree is at times nude and at times clothed.

He replied: 'Brother, condole with me because there is no occasion for congratulation. When thou sawest me last, I was distressed for bread and now a world of distress has overwhelmed me.'

If I have no wealth I grieve. If I have some the love of it captivates me. There is no greater calamity than worldly goods. Both their possession and their want are griefs.

If thou wishest for power,covet nothing Except contentment which is sufficient happiness.

If a rich man pours gold into thy lap

Care not a moment for thanking him.

Because often I heard great men say

The patience of a dervish is better than the gift of a rich man.

Story 29

A man had a friend, who held the office of devan to the padshah, but whom he had not seen for a long time; and, a man having asked him for the reason, he replied: 'I do not want to see him.' A dependent however of the devan, who also happened to be present, queried: 'What fault has he committed that thou art unwilling to meet him?' He replied: 'There is no fault in the matter but a friend who is a devan may be seen when he is removed from office.'

Whilst in greatness and in the turmoil of busines They do not like to be troubled by neighbours But when they are depressed and removed from office They will lay open their heart's grief to friends.

Story 30

Abu Harirah, may the approbation of Allah be upon him, was in the habit of daily waiting upon the Mustafa, peace on him, who said: Abu Harira, visit me on alternate days that our love may increase.' A man said to a devotee: 'Beautiful as the sun is, I never heard that anybody took it for a friend or fell in love with it', and he replied: 'This is because it may be seen daily, except in winter when it is veiled and beloved.'

There is no harm in visiting people

But not till they say: 'It is enough!'

If thou findest fault with thyself

Thou wilt not hear others reproaching thee.

Story 31

A man, being tormented story by a contrary wind in his belly and not having the power to retain it, unwittingly allowed it to escape. He said: 'Friends, I had no option in what I did, the fault of it is not to be ascribed to me and peace has resulted to my internal parts. Kindly excuse me.'

The belly is a prison of wind, O wise man.

No sage retains wind in captivity.

If wind twists thy belly let it out

Because wind in the belly is a burden to the heart.

Story 32

Having become tired of my friends in Damascus, I went into the desert of Jerusalem and associated with animals till the time when I became a prisoner of the Franks, who put me to work with infidels in digging the earth of a moat in Tarapolis, when one of the chiefs of Aleppo,with whom i had formerly

been acquainted, recognized me and said: 'What state is this?' I recited:

'I fled from men to mountain and desert Wishing to attend upon no one but God. Imagine what my state at present is When I must be satisfied in a stable of wretches.

The feet in chains with friends

Is better than to be with strangers in a garden.'

He took pity on my state and ransomed me for ten dinars from the captivity of the Franks, taking me to Aleppo where he had a daughter and married me to her with a dowry of one hundred dinars. After some time had elapsed, she turned out to be ill-humoured, quarrelsome, disobedient, abusive in her tongue and embittering my life:

A bad wife in a good man's house

Is his hell in this world already.

Alas for a bad consort, alas !

Preserve us, O Lord from the punishment of fire.

Once she lengthened her tongue of reproach and said: Art thou not the man whom my father purchased from the Franks for ten dinars?' I replied: 'Yes, he bought me for ten dinars and sold me into thy hands for one hundred dinars.'

I heard that a sheep had by a great man Been rescued from the jaws and the power of a wolf. In the evening he stroked her throat with a knife Whereon the soul of the sheep complained thus: Thou hast snatched me away from the claws of a wolf, But at last I see thou art thyself a wolf.'

Story 33

A padshah asked a hermit: 'How spendest thou thy precious time?' He replied: 'I am all night engaged in prayer, during the morning in supplications and the rest of the day in restricting my expenses.' Then the king ordered a sufficient allowance to be allotted to him so as to relieve him of the cares of his family.

thou who art encumbered with a family, Think no more of ever enjoying freedom. Cares for children, raiment and food Restrain thee from the heavenly kingdom. Every day I renew my determination

To wait upon God until the night.

In the night, while tying the knot of prayer,

1 think what my children will eat on the morrow. A man, professing to be a hermit in the desert of Syria, attended for years to his devotions and subsisted on the leaves of trees. A padshah, who had gone in that direction by way of pilgrimage, approached him and said: 'If thou thinkest proper, we shall prepare a place for thee in the town where thou wilt enjoy leisure for thy devotions and others may profit by thy spiritual advice as well as imitate thy good works.' The hermit refused compliance but the pillars of the State were of opinion that, in order to please the king, he ought to spend a few days in town to ascertain the state of the place; so that if he feared that the purity of his precious time might become turbid by association with strangers, he would still have the option to refuse compliance. It is related that the hermit entered the town where a private garden-house of the king, which was a heart-expanding and soul refreshing locality, had been prepared to receive him.

Its red roses were like the cheeks of belles,

Its hyacinths like the ringlets of mistresses

Protected from the inclemency of mid-winter

Like sucklings who have not yet tasted the nurse's milk.

And branches with pomegranates upon them: Fire suspended from the green-trees.

The king immediately sent him a beautiful slave-girl:

After beholding this hermit-deceiving crescent-moon Of the form of an angel and the beauty of a peacock, After seeing her it would be impossible To an anchorite's nature to remain patient.

After her he sent likewise a slave-boy of wonderful beauty and graceful placidity:

People around him are dying with thirst

And he, who looks like a cupbearer, gives no drink.

The sight cannot be satisfied by seeing him Like the dropsical man near the Euphrates.

The hermit began to eat delicious food, to wear nice clothes, to enjoy fruit and perfumed confectionery as well as to contemplate the beauty of the slave-boy and girl in conformity with the maxim of wise men, who have said that the curls of belles are fetters to the feet of the intellect and a snare to a sagacious bird.

In thy service I lost my heart and religion with all my learning, I am indeed the sagacious bird and thou the snare.

In short, the happiness of his former time of contentedness had come to an end, as the saying is:

Any faqih, pir and murid Or pure minded orator, Descending into the base world.

Sticks in the honey like a fly.

Once the king desired to visit him but saw the hermit changed from his former state, as he had become red, white and corpulent. When the king entered, he beheld him reclining on a couch of gold brocade whilst the boy and the fairy stood near his head with a fan of peacocks' feathers. He expressed pleasure to behold the hermit in so comfortable a position, conversed with him on many topics and said at the conclusion of the visit: 'I am afraid of these two classes of men in the world: scholars and hermits.' The vezier, who was a philosopher and experienced in the affairs of the world, being present, said: 'O king, the conditions of friendship require thee to do good to both classes. Bestow gold upon scholars that they may read more but give nothing to hermits that they may remain hermits.'

A hermit requires neither dirhems nor dinars. If lie takes any, find another hermit.

Who has a good behaviour and a secret with God

Is an anchorite without the waqfbread or begged morsel.

With a handsome figure and heart-ravishing ear-tip A girl is a belle without turquoise-ring or pendants.

A dervish of good behaviour and of happy disposition Requires not the bread of the rebat nor the begged morsel. A lady endowed with a beauteous form and chaste face Requires no paint, adornment or turquoise-ring.

When I have and covet more

It will not be proper to call me an anchorite.

Story 35

In conformity with the above sentiments an affair of importance emerged to a padshah, who thereon vowed that, if it terminated according to his wishes, he would present devotees with a certain sum of money. His wish having been fulfilled, it became necessary to keep his promise. Accordingly he gave a purse of dirhems to one of his confidential servants to distribute it among recluses. It is related that the slave was intelligent and shrewd. He walked about all day and returning at nightfall, kissed the dirhems and deposited them before the king with the remark that he had not found any devotees. The king rejoined: 'What nonsense is this? As far as I know there are four hundred devotees in this town. He said: 'Lord of the world, who is a devotee does not accept money and who accepts it is not a devotee.' The king smiled and said to his courtiers: 'Despite of my wishing to do good to this class of worshippers of God, this rogue bears them emnity and thwarts my wish but truth is on his side.'

If a devotee has taken dirhems and dinars Find another who is more a devotee than he.

Story 36

One of the ulemma of solid learning, having been asked for his opinion about waqfbread, answered: 'If it be accepted to insure tranquillity of mind from cares for food and to obtain leisure for devotion,it

is lawful but if it be taken for maintenance it is forbidden.'

Bread is taken for the corner of devotion

By pious men and not the corner of devotion for bread.

Story 37

A dervish arrived in a place, the owner of which was of a noble disposition, and had surrounded himself with a company of distinguished and eloquent men, each of whom uttered something elegant or jocular, according to the fashion of wits. The dervish who had travelled through the desert and was fatigued had eaten nothing. One of the company asked him by way of encouragement likewise to say something. The dervish replied: 'I do not possess distinction and eloquence like you and have read nothing so you must be satisfied with one distich of mine.' The company having agreed with pleasure he recited:

'I am hungry and opposite to a table of food Like a bachelor at the door of a bath of females.'

The company, having thus been apprised of his famished condition, produced a table with bread but as he began to eat greedily the host said: 'Friend, at any rate stop a while till my servants roast some minced meat'; whereon the dervish lifted his head and recited:

'Do not order pounded meat for my table.

To a pounded man simple bread is pounded meat.'

Story 38

A murid said to his pir: 'What am I to do? I am troubled by the people, many of whom pay me visits. By their coming and going they encroach upon my precious time.' He replied: 'Lend something to every one of them who is poor and ask something from every one who is rich and they will come round thee no more.'

If a mendicant were the leader of the army of Islam,

The infidels would for fear of his importunity run as far as China.

Story 39

The son of a faqih said to his father: 'These heart-ravishing words of moralists make no impression upon me because I do not see that their actions are in conformity with their speeches.'

They teach people to abandon the world But themselves accumulate silver and corn. A scholar who only preaches and nothing more Will not impress anyone when he speaks. He is a scholar who commits no evil, Not he who speaks to men but acts not himself.

Will you enjoin virtue to mankind and forget your owh shouls? A scholar who follows his lusts and panders to his body Is himself lost although he may show the way.

The father replied: 'My son, it is not proper merely on account of this vain fancy to turn away the face from the instruction of advisers, to travel on the road of vanity, to accuse the ullemma of aberration, and whilst searching for an immaculate scholar, to remain excluded from the benefits of knowledge, like a blind man who one night fell into the mud and shouted: "O Musalmans, hold a lamp on my path." Whereon a courtesan who heard him asked: "As thou canst not see the lamp, what wilt thou see with the lamp?" In the same way the preaching assembly is like the shop of a dealer in linen because if thou bringest no money thou canst obtain no wares and if thou bringest no inclination to the assembly thou wilt not get any felicity.'

He said: 'Listen with thy soul's ear to a scholar

Although his actions may not be like his doctrines.'

In vain does the gainsayer ask:

'How can a sleeper awaken a sleeper?

A man must receive into his ears

The advice although it be written on a wall.'

A pious man came to the door of a college from a monastery. He broke the covenant of the company of those of the Tariq. I asked him what the difference between a scholar and a monk amounts to?

He replied: 'The former saves his blanket from the waves Whilst the latter strives to save the drowning man.'

Story 40

A man was sleeping dead-drunk on the highway and the bridle of spontaneity had slipped from his hands. A hermit passed near him and considered the disgraceful condition he was in. The youth raised his head and recited: When they passed near something contemptible, they passed it kindly. When thou beholdest a sinner be concealing and meek.

Turn not thy face from a sinner, O anchorite. Look upon him with benignity. If I am ignoble in my actions Pass me by like a noble fellow.

Story 41

A company of vagabonds met a dervish, spoke insulting words to him, struck him and otherwise molested him; whereon he complained to his superior and explained the case. The pir replied: 'My son, the patched frock of dervishes is the garment of resignation and who, wearing it, cannot bear injuries is a pretender not entitled to the frock.'

A large river will not become turbid from stones. The Arif who feels aggrieved is shallow water yet. If he injures thee, bear it

Because pardon will purify thee from sin.

O brother, as the end is dust, be dust before thou art turned into dust.

Story 42

Listen to this story how in Baghdad

A flag and a curtain fell into dispute.

Travel stained, dusty and fatigued, the flag

Said to the curtain by way of reproach:

'I and thou, we are both fellow servants,

Slaves of the sultan's palace.

Not a moment had I rest from service

In season and out of season I travelled about.

Thou hast suffered neither toil nor siege,

Not from the desert, wind, nor dust and dirt.

My step in the march is more advancing.

Then why is thy honour exceeding mine?

Thou art upon moon-faced servants

Or jessamine scented slave girls.

1 have fallen into prentice hands.

I travel with foot in fetters and head fluttering.' The curtain said: 'My head is on the threshold Not like thine in the heavens. Who carelessly lifts up his neck Throws himself upon his neck.'

Story 43

A pious man saw an acrobat in great dudgeon, full of wrath and foaming at the mouth. He asked: 'What is the matter with this fellow?' A bystander said: 'Someone has insulted him.' He remarked: 'This base wretch is able to lift a thousand mann of stones and has not the power to bear one word.'

Abandon thy claim to strength and manliness.

Thou art weak-minded and base, whether thou be a man or woman.

If thou art able, make a sweet mouth.

It is not manliness to strike the fist on a mouth.

Although able to tear up an elephant's front He is not a man who possessed no humanity. A man's nature is of earth. If he is not humble he is not a man.

Story 44

I asked a good man concerning the qualities of the brethren of purity. He replied: 'The least of them is that they prefer to please their friends rather than themselves; and philosophers have said that a brother who is fettered by affairs relating to himself is neither a brother nor a relative.'

If thy fellow traveller hastens, he is not thy fellow. Tie not thy heart to one whose heart is not tied to thine. When a kinsman possesses no virtue and piety Then severing connection is better than love of kinship.

I remember that an opponent objected to the last two lines, saying: 'God the most high and glorious has in his noble book prohibited the severing of connection with relatives and has commanded us to love them. What thou hast alleged is contrary to it.' I replied: 'Thou art mistaken because according to the Quran, Allah the most high has said: If they both father and mother, strive to induce thee to associate with me that concerning which thou hast no knowledge, obey them not.

A thousand kinsmen who are strangers to God Are the sacrifice for one stranger who knows him.

Story 45

A kind old man in Baghdad

Gave his daughter to a cobbler.

The cruel little man so bit her

That blood flowed from the daughter's lips.

Next morning the father saw her thus

And going to the bridegroom asked him:

'O mean wretch, what teeth are these?

Chewest thou thus her lips? They are not leather.

I do not say these words in jest,

Leave joking off and enjoy her seriously.

If ill humour becomes fixed in a nature

It will not leave it till the time of death.'

Story 46

A faqih had a very ugly daughter and when she attained puberty no one was inclined to marry her in spite of her dowry and wealth.

Bad is the brocade and damask cloth Which is upon an ugly bride.

At last it became necessary to marry her to a blind man and it is related that on the said occasion a physician arrived from Serandip who was able to restore sight to the blind. The faqih, being asked why he had not put his son-in-law under treatment, replied: 'I fear that if he is able to see he will divorce my daughter.'

It is better if the husband of an ugly woman is blind.

Story 47

A padshah was casting a glanced of contempt upon a company of dervishes and one of them, understanding by his sagacity the meaning of it, said: 'O king, in this world we are inferior to thee in dignity but more happy in life. In death we are equal and in the resurrection superior to thee.'

Though the master of a country may have enjoyment

And the dervish may be in need of bread

In that hour when both of them will die

They will take from the world not more than a shroud.

When thou takest thy departure from the realm

It will be better to be a mendicant than a padshah.

Externally the dervish shows a patched robe and a shaved head but in reality his heart is living and his lust dead.

He does not sit at the door of pretence away from people

To fight against them if they oppose him

Because when a millstone rolls from a mountain

He is not an A'rif who gets out of the way of the stone.

The way of dervishes is praying, gratitude, service, obedience, almsgiving, contentment, professing the unity of God, trust, submission and patience. Whoever possesses these qualities is really a dervish, although he may wear an elegant robe, whereas a prattler who neglects his orisons, is luxurious, sensual, turns day into night in the bondage of lust, and night into day in the sleep of carelessness, eats whatever he gets, and speaks whatever comes upon his tongue, is a profligate, although he may wear the habit of a dervish.

O thou whose interior is denuded of piety But wearest outwardly the garb of hypocrisy Do not display a curtain of seven colours. Thou hast reed mats inside thy house.

Story 48

1 saw bouquets of fresh roses Tied upon a cupola of grass.

I asked: 'What is despicable grass To sit also in the line of the roses?' The grass wept and said: 'Hush! Companionship does not obliterate nobility. Although I have no beauty, colour and perfume, Am I not after all the grass of his garden? I am the slave of a bountiful lord, Cherished from old by his liberality. Whether I possess virtue or not I hope for grace from the Lord Although I possess no property No capital to offer as obidience.

He knows the remedy for the slave

To whom no support remains.

It is customary that the owner gives a writ

Of emancipation to an old slave.

O God, who hast adorned the universe,

Be bountiful to thy old slave.'

Sa'di, take the road to the Ka'bah of submission.

O man of God, follow the way of God.

Unlucky is he who turns his head

Away from this door for he will find no other door.

Story 49

A sage having been asked whether liberality or bravery is better replied: 'He who possesses liberality needs no bravery.'

It is written on the tomb of Behram Gur: A liberal hand is better than a strong arm.'

Hatim Tai has passed away but for ever

His high name will remain celebrated for beneficence.

Set aside the zekat from thy property because the exuberant vines

When pruned by the vintner will yield more grapes.