The Book of Rumi, page 12
“My God, only You know who Your special devotees are and what precious gifts they are to this world. So please, for our sake, use Your alchemy to turn this stack of wood into gold!”
Instantly the wood turned into pure gold, as if on fire! The young darvish was stunned; frozen on the spot, he was unable to move. After a while, the old man turned to the sky again: “O God Almighty, You are the all-knowing; for the sake of Your devoted servant, please turn this gold back to its original form.”
The heap of gold instantly reverted to firewood, and the old man nimbly lifted the pieces onto his feeble back. He began walking toward the town, ignoring the calls of the young darvish, hoping that he had learned his lesson. He wished that the young man might remember this encounter and never again underestimate a working man's efforts to earn his keep rather than relying on handouts, like some.
Giving Up a Kingdom
Ibrahim, the ruler of Balkh, was wealthy and fair, admired by his people. One night as he slept soundly in his palace, he was awakened by thumping on the roof. He thought it might be his guards, chasing intruders who were running havoc. Before he opened his eyes, he thought: “Who'd dare try to enter my palace? Could it be a thief? But with all these soldiers and guards stationed all over the grounds, who'd risk his life?”
He angrily got out of bed and walked over to the window, thinking: “I hear the guards giving chase, but no human would be foolish enough to try to steal anything from my palace! Surely they must be djinns,” he concluded.
“Who's out there in the dark of the night?” he screamed out the window, as loudly and ferociously as he could.
“It's us,” a group of men yelled back in unison.
“What are you looking for?” inquired Ibrahim, confounded.
“We're chasing camels!” they said matter-of-factly.
“What idiots! Why would anyone chase camels on a rooftop?”
“For the same reason that you're chasing God while lying in bed!” they rationalized. “Is what we're doing so much more incredible than what you're doing?”
When Ibrahim heard those words, he gasped in awe, reached for the first outfit of clothing he could lay his hands on, and left his palace for good. No one ever saw him in the province of Khorasan ever again. His name, as a great Sufi, became renowned throughout Persia, and his story was told and retold for years to come, inspiring visions of the mysteries of the spirit world.
Darvish in the Garden
It was a beautiful sunny morning, and a darvish left home early intending to run a few overdue errands. Soon he found himself walking past a lush garden filled with fragrant roses and amazing, plentiful fruit trees. Instinctively, he entered the garden, intending to spend a few quiet moments alone and meditate on the beauty he had just witnessed. He found a secluded corner and sat down, making himself comfortable on a bench in the midst of the shrubs. Resting his head on his knee, he began to contemplate the grace of God.
A young man, who had also been mesmerized by the beauty of the garden, walked past the darvish and thought that he had fallen asleep. He couldn't hold his tongue and without any consideration for the man's privacy approached him and began a soliloquy, accusing the darvish of shutting himself off from the magnificence that God had created.
“It's a crime when you refuse to take advantage of the blessings that God has provided us with,” the young man asserted aggressively. “What are you doing closing your eyes to all this beauty that surrounds you? By not taking advantage of it, you're in fact committing an unpardonable sin!” he continued, self-pleasingly.
The darvish slowly raised his head and knowingly gazed at the intruder as he rambled on but kept his silence until the young man finally fell silent.
“The signs of the Beloved, young man, are imprinted on one's heart, and that's where you should seek them,” the darvish began. “The beauties that you speak of exist only in the outside world, while within my heart there's no limit to God's glory. The trees, the flowers, and the fruit that you see are only signs of His creation; they're merely a reflection on the surface of the water,” he said softly but assertively, lowering his head again onto his knee and shutting his eyes as he resumed his meditation, ignoring the intruder's presence altogether.
Silence Is the Reply to Fools
At the king's court, there were many obedient and hardworking servants, except one. Unlike the others, this servant was lazy and greedy, unable to ever finish any task assigned to him. One day the king, who up to then had been extremely tolerant, finally got fed up with the servant's stupidity and ordered the treasurer to reduce his salary drastically.
Soon it was payday, and all the servants were enthusiastically awaiting their wages. When the stupid servant was handed his reduced amount of money, he couldn't believe his eyes and flew into a fury. Instead of finding out why he had been admonished, he began to curse and blame the cook for slandering him. The cook, who had been the one to hand him his reduced wages, told him that he was innocent and only the messenger. “If you truly want to find the real reason for your punishment, why don't you take a look at your own behavior? You'll soon discover who's the real culprit,” he advised the servant.
The servant, however, turned a deaf ear to this good advice and sat down to write a letter of complaint to the king. He began the letter by praising the king, but his vicious tone did not go unnoticed. The king in his infinite wisdom chose to ignore the letter altogether.
When the servant never received a reply, he became suspicious of the messenger to whom he had entrusted his letter and thought that he had betrayed him. Soon again, he flew into a rage and cursed the messenger, making an even greater fool of himself than before. Unwilling to give up, he wrote more letters to the king each week, all of which went unacknowledged. After several months, one of the king's emissaries who was familiar with the case pleaded with the king to respond to his servant and release him from his self-inflicted torture.
“To respond to him is easy for me and to forgive him his laziness and stupidity, even easier,” replied the king wisely. “Yet I choose not to infest the other servants with the same ailments that he suffers from, namely weakness of character and absence of intelligence. Therefore, I say to thee, the answer to fools is silence!”
The Large Turban
The size of a turban in the old days was indicative of a man's valor and stature in his society. In one small town, there was a middle-aged teacher who didn't have a bean to his name and went hungry most days, but he was too proud to admit his destitution to his associates. He regularly collected scraps from fabric shops, discarded wads of cotton, and cut-off pieces of people's unwanted cloaks, stuffing them into his modest turban to make it look more substantial. With time, his old and dirty turban came to resemble a sultan's silk headdress, fooling everyone in school and buying him much respect in town.
His students never thought for a moment that their revered master was not who he pretended to be, and the townsfolk didn't have a clue that when they bowed to his apparent opulence in the street, they were honoring an imposter. Only he knew that his good reputation was based on false pretenses—that, in fact, it was nothing but a big lie.
One early morning before sunrise, the teacher left his home and began his daily walk to school, preparing the morning lesson in his head. Unbeknown to him, a lowly thief was hiding behind a pillar around the corner, waiting for his chance. As soon as he caught site of the oversized, ornate headdress of the teacher, he thought that his opportune moment had arrived. It was well known among thieves that people of means generally hid their money and jewels in their turbans to keep them out of plain sight.
The thief waited patiently, confident that he could easily overcome the scrawny man coming his way and eagerly anticipated his moment of victory. As the teacher approached, in the blink of an eye the thief knocked the turban off his head, picked it up swiftly, and ran off with it. The teacher was confused at first and couldn't gain his bearings, but soon he realized what had happened and then chased after the thief.
“You good-for-nothing!” he screamed after him. “Look inside that turban first before you rejoice! You'll soon find out what you've achieved! Nothing! There's absolutely nothing worthwhile inside!” he loudly confessed.
The thief stopped running and pulled the turban apart to find that indeed nothing was inside but useless pieces of discarded cloth. He threw the whole lot onto the ground, losing his temper and cursing both the teacher and his sorry luck.
Intelligence
A young man was in trouble. He faced a dire problem that was consuming his life, making him miserable company for everyone he knew. Hard as he tried, he couldn't figure out how to free himself from the web that he had, through his own behavior, spun and entangled himself in. He took endless walks and spent hours on end in different teashops and coffee houses, engaging with strangers, seeking advice. Despite his efforts, however, his problem seemed unsolvable.
One day, he entered a particular coffee house for the first time and saw an older man sitting quietly in a corner. He recognized him immediately but didn't approach him right away. Instead, he sat at a table where he could keep the man's profile in view. He studied the older man with interest, remembering him as highly intelligent and a fair judge of character. After a few long minutes, he mustered his courage and walked over to the man's table, asking if he could sit down for just a minute. The man looked up from his book but did not seem very pleased at this interruption. He nevertheless nodded, and the young man quickly sat down and immediately posed his query. The older man was taken aback at the younger one's candor and shook his head thoughtfully.
“My good man, you must seek the advice of someone else, someone who's your friend. I'm your staunch enemy and will only misguide you. Why would you want my advice? You need a compassionate ear, one who only wants the best for you. You can be certain that you've no need for any words of advice I may have!” he suggested honestly. “If you were sitting in the midst of fire but had a friend with you, you'd think you were in a rose garden! And if you were in the middle of the most heavenly garden but were in the company of enemies, you'd feel like you were at the epicenter of a bonfire! So go on and find a counselor who's your true friend.”
The older man had spoken his truth, hoping that his advice had not fallen on deaf ears and that he would be left alone in peace now.
“I am well aware of your feelings toward me, sir,” admitted the younger man. “But I'm also aware that you're a highly intelligent person and would never commit a wrong deed. You would, therefore, never advise another person to do so either; that's why I trust your judgment far above my own or any friend's.”
Leadership
In the first years, after the prophet Mohammad had originally introduced Islam to the people of Arabia, he was forced to wage many wars to firmly establish his nascent religion. Having fought in many of the battles himself, he was well aware of the importance of a competent leader. The time had come for yet another war, and he needed an able general. The prophet looked hard at his options and came to a final decision. His choice to lead his army was a young soldier who had not only fought exceptionally well but had also shown impeccable wisdom in making quick and wise decisions during battle.
Once the prophet announced his decision, one of his older companions, unable to control his anger and jealousy, approached Mohammad to complain. He simply could not accept taking orders from a younger man.
“You're our great messenger,” he said gravely. “I beg you to reconsider your choice and refrain from selecting this young man! Didn't you always say that leadership belongs to the elders? We've several older soldiers who are far more deserving of this position. Don't look down on the yellow leaves of trees. Remember, they symbolize maturity and are responsible for producing ripe fruit in the end, while green shoots only signify youth and inexperience. An older person may have a tired body, but his intelligence is incomparably deeper than a young person's.”
The man continued with his soliloquy, annoying the prophet more acutely with each passing moment. The prophet tolerated the older man's complaints for as long as he could but eventually cut him off and tried to reason with him.
“You only see the obvious and are blind to this young man's superior hidden qualities!” he asserted. “There are many men whose beards have not yet turned white but possess unrivaled qualities that their elders can only dream of. Likewise, there are many older men with long, white, distinguished beards whose hearts are tainted with unforgiveable sins. A commander must be intelligent; what does he want with a white beard? Isn't Iblis, our very own devil, the oldest man in the world? When one doesn't have a good mind, one has nothing! Only the shortsighted consider white hair by itself to be a sign of maturity. My dear companion, strive to detect the essence of things so you may take command of both your faith and your mind. A wise man possesses an innate light with which he's able to guide and lead others; and I'm convinced that this young man has exactly that!”
Mohammad could easily have continued with his discourse but thought better of it and stopped. He hoped that his words had penetrated the old man's heart and mind with sufficient gravity so that he would never again have to counter any soldier's biased remarks, which could cast doubt among the entire army.
Three Fish
In a small pond at the foot of a mountain, where the water was as clear as the first drops of a spring rainfall, there lived three incredibly beautiful fish. They had swum in the pond all their lives and had never been disturbed by predators, until one day a few men happened to walk by and spotted them.
The men quickly rummaged through their packs trying to find anything they could use to catch the fish. Soon they found an old fishing net, all tangled up, among their normally useless bits and bobs. The three fish watched the men as they hurried about their business noisily but didn't guess their intention and continued swimming around calmly.
One of the fish, however, who was more intelligent than the other two, became suspicious and thought it best to leave the pond as soon as possible, without confiding in his friends. He reasoned that if he shared his intention with the other two, they'd try to dissuade him, as they were excessively attached to their home and old ways and might be unwilling to give them up. He had made up his mind, though, and was prepared to bear the consequences to save himself from what appeared to be their imminent demise.
Without further delay, the wise fish took a leap and braved the fast current that flowed out from the pond, following a stream that ultimately poured into a vast sea, the opposite shore too far distant to be visible. Once he found himself in the warm waters of the sea, he felt free at last; he could swim endlessly without having to circle around time and time again, like in a fishbowl. His new life was good, and he was thrilled that he had believed in himself and taken a chance on the unknown.
Meanwhile, the men continued to untangle their net, preparing to cast it into the pond. The second fish realized that she had wasted precious time and that her luck might have run out, so she began to conjure up an escape route as fast as she could. Initially, she blamed herself for not having followed her wise friend, who was now probably swimming free in the ample sea. Quickly, though, she stopped herself from dwelling on her mistake, as she knew that when the past is gone, it's gone! She could think of no plan of escape other than pretending to be dead. So she rolled onto her back and, with her belly facing up toward the sky, floated on the surface of the water weightlessly.
The compliant water carried the seemingly dead fish gently on its ripples, up and down and around the pond. When the men saw the dead fish, they comforted each other that, although it was a shame to lose one, they should be grateful that they'd been spared dealing with a sick fish that was going to die anyway as soon as caught. One of the men grabbed the tail of the apparently dead fish as she floated on her back in front of him and threw her onto dry land. Without delay, the suddenly resurgent fish gathered all her might and flipped over and over behind the men's backs until she finally found her way to the fast-moving stream that eventually took her to the salty sea. Free at last, she swam with all her strength to get as far away as possible from the shore, hoping to never again lay eyes on another human being.
The third fish, however, was stupid. In a frenzy, he flopped around and around in circles, hoping to evade his captors as they watched from the bank. He proved easy to catch, however; the men simply threw their net over him and in no time had him roasting on a fire. Unbeknown to the men, while burning inside out, the fish kept repeating to himself, knowing well that it was much too late for regrets: “If I could have a next time, I'd pay closer attention to my wise friends and aim for the sea, which I'd make my home and forsake this lonesome pond forever.”
I Am God
Bayazid of Bastam was a supreme Sufi master with many followers and devotees. He was famous for his seemingly mad utterances, which erupted from him when he went into trance. Those who knew him well and loved him unconditionally were familiar with his unusual states of mind and turned a blind eye to his peculiarities, letting him exaggerate as much as he liked.
One fine spring day Bayazid was in the company of his favorite students and felt exceptionally jolly, impatient to begin the sama. Often while he whirled, he would experience highly charged states of mind, shrieking and repeating words that were incomprehensible to the others present. That day, his followers noticed that he was overexcited and that his actions were especially unusual. His mood was also somehow different from the other times when he became engrossed in spiritual rituals; nevertheless, they didn't allow themselves to become concerned.
