NOURNEWS - (A story from the sixth book of Masnavi by Rumi-Rewritten in prose and translated from Persian to English)
Be patient with the misbehavior of the ignorant and be patient with your divine intellect; because tolerating unworthy people makes your soul's religion shine. Just as the fire of Nimrod caused the perfection of Abraham, and just as the persecution of Noah's people led to his growth, waiting for the persecutions of the ignorant removes the rust from the ritual of your soul.
To better understand this important issue, consider the following story:
Sheikh Abolhassan Kharaqani's fame resonated in all cities and lands so much that many people rushed to Kharaqan to meet the great mystic. Meanwhile, a dervish from the city of Taleqan went to Kharaqan to see the sheikh, full of truth and need. The Taleqani dervish crossed the high mountains and vast deserts, endured many hardships along the way, and finally reached his destination. In Kharqan, he asked for the sign of the Sheikh's house and found it, and with great politeness and respect he knocked on the door. The sheikh's wife opened the door and asked, "What do you want?"
"I have come to visit the Sheikh," the dervish replied.
Sheikh's wife grinned and said, "You are such a stupid man that you have suffered so much and gone so far!" Didn't you have something to do in your own city that made the journey so futile? Are you in love with promiscuity, or are you bored with your homeland? Perhaps the devil has overpowered you and instilled the passion of this journey in your heart!
The sheikh's wife said many unpleasant and unfortunate words, and her insults and ridicule made the Taleqani dervish very sad and upset, and a flood of tears flowed from his eyes. In the midst of tears and sorrow, the dervish said, "With all this talk, where is that great king now?"
"Sheikh is a deceitful man and misleads simple-minded people," she said. Thousands of stupid and simple people, like you, have fallen into his trap and become poor. It is in your best interest not to see him and return from here and go safely to your hometown. "Sheikh is a boastful man, lickspittle and a sponger, and his false claims have reached everywhere."
The Taleqani dervish, who was outraged by the words of the sheikh's wife, shouted: "Enough! The light of God's saints has engulfed the east and the west of the universe, and the heavens have prostrated themselves before them in astonishment. Silly nonsense like yours never takes me away from the Sheikh's house. I did not come to this door in the wind to return from here easily.
O wicked idiot! If you blow out the candle of truth, your head and face will burn. Bats like you dream a lot that the sun is off and the world is without light. The heavens are the bondage of our sheikh, and all the people of the world are sitting at his table of generosity. If it were not for him, this sky would not have turned and the angels would not have found their place.
And if it weren't for him, the earth wouldn't have a treasure inside, and it wouldn't have colorful flowers outside. A disgrace like yours has become mystic's wife, just as an infidel woman was Noah's wife. If you hadn't been assigned to the Sheikh's house, I would have torn you to pieces and freed Noah from your bondage. Go and pray and be thankful that you are the dog of this house, otherwise I would have killed you now. "
The Taleqani dervish then went into the streets to find out about Sheikh Kharaqan. Someone told him: "That pole of time has gone to the mountains to collect firewood. The gifted disciple hurried to the mountain to find the sheikh. In the middle of the road, the demon creates temptations in his heart to hide the moon of truth under the dust of those temptations; the man wondered why that Sheikh had become a companion in his house with such a woman. Where is this monkey and where is that leader of the people?
When these thoughts came to him, he spoke with great intensity and sought refuge in God and feared: “My objection to the Sheikh is a kind of disbelief.” Who am I that my soul is in the way of problems and objections to the seizures of truth?" But again, his soul, as a result of this awareness, attacked and darkened his insides. It was in these fantasies that Dervish suddenly saw the famous Sheikh appear from afar. The sheikh had placed his firewood on the back of the lion, and he was riding on the back of the firewood and his whip was a great snake, and with it he whipped the lion.
When the sheikh saw the dervish from afar, he laughed and said, "Do not listen to the words of the devil." The great Sheikh, with the light of his heart, who is the best guide, became aware of the dervish's conscience and recounted to him in detail everything that had gone his way.
He then spoke of the "denial of his wife," saying, "If I tolerate such a woman, it is not because of the lust of the soul. This is the dream of your soul and you should not stop at this stage. "If I hadn't endured this woman's mischief patiently, the male lion would never have forced me."
*Faculty Member at Islamic azad Uinversity
NOURNEWS