A dervish was sitting by the roadside when a haughty courtier with his retinue, riding past in the opposite direction, struck him with a cane, shouting: ‘Out of the way, you miserable wretch!’
When they had swept past, the dervish rose and called after them: ‘May you attain all that you desire in the world, even up to its highest ranks!’
A bystander, much impressed by this scene, approached the devout man and said to him: ‘Please tell me whether your words were motivated by generosity of spirit, or because the desires of the world will undoubtedly corrupt that man even more?’
‘O man of bright countenance,’ said the dervish, ‘has it not occurred to you that I said what I did because people who attain their real desires would not need to ride around striking dervishes?’
PDF - The Fruit of Heaven
- Bread and Jewels
- Those whose food is self-deceit
- Robert Frager: The functions of the Sufi lineage
- What is Sufism?
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