Inspirational Sufi Story - Chisthi pir

Bismillahir Rahmaanir Raheem

A visitor came to a Chishti pir.

This visitor wanted to demonstrate his own knowledge of the Qur’an and intended to overpower the Chishti pir in a debate. When he entered, the Chishti pir took the initiative however and mentioned Yusuf and the dreams he has had according to the Qur’an.

He then suddenly turned to his visitor and asked him if he could tell him about a dream, so that the visitor may give his interpretation thereof. After receiving permission the Sufi told that he has had a dream and both of them were in it.

The Chishti pir then went on by describing the following dream event: “I saw your hand immersed in a jar of honey, while my hand was immersed in the latrine”.

The visitor hastened to interpret: “It is quite obvious! You are immersed in wrong pursuits whereas I am leading a righteous life”.

“But’, the Sufi said, “there is more to the dream”. The visitor asked him to continue. The Chishti pir then went on by telling this: “You were licking my hand and I was licking yours”.

Another unrelated sufi story to make you smile:
Bohlul was sitting on a bridge, watching the river flow by. The king saw him, and immediately had him arrested. "A bridge is for passing, not for staying!" said the king. Bohlul then replied to the king, "You should take a look at yourself. Look at how you are clinging to this life." (Adapted from "Another way of laughter: a collection of Sufi humor" by Massud Farzan, [E. P. Dutton & Co, New York, 1973], p. 39.)

A tale without a name

A SUFI TALE WITHOUT A NAME

 

There was once a Sufi who was approached by a youth, who said to him:

-'Why do the wise not give good advice to all so that we could all act in accordance with it, and prosper? If there are so many illuminated ones who can he al the sick, why do they not do it for everyone, so that we might banish disease from the earth?'

The Sufi said:
-'Come with me on a journey, and I will show you how matters really stand, for they are otherwise than you think.'

So the two set off on their travels. They arrived at a village where a man was trying to milk a miserable goat, but could hardly get any milk from her.

The Sufi said to him:
-'What would you like most of all?'
The man answered:
-'I would like a herd of good goats, so that I could hold up my head up high, feed my family, and be content.'

The Sufi said:
-'Would you not rather be worthy of all this first?'.
But the poor man shook his head:

- 'No,' he replied 'because poverty produces misery and plenty is a blessing which produces benevolence.'

The Sufi waved his hand, and suddenly the poor peasant found that he was the owner of many flocks of beautiful goats.

The two travellers proceeded on their way.

The next person they met was a woman, who was sitting disconsolately beside a well. The Sufi asked her what was wrong, and she said:
-'I am ugly and nobody will marry me, which means that I am doomed to pass the rest of my life in misery, since hereabouts it is considered undesirable to be unmarried.'

The Sufi said:
-'Would you rather be beautiful or really useful in this world, and able to serve other people?'

-'I would rather be beautiful,' she said, 'because if I were, it would not be hard to do good. As it is, others do evil to me.'

The Sufi waved his hand, and by his knowledge of the superior realms, the woman was transformed into a ravishing beauty.
The two went on their way.

The next man they met was a scholar, dressed in sumptuous robes.
After same conversation, the Sufi asked him:
-'Is there anything which you need? It appears not, since you have been blessed with so much. You have cattle, houses, the respect of your students...'
The scholar said:
-'None of these is of any account. What I really need is that I should be regarded as the greatest scholar in the world.'
-'But,' said the Sufi, 'would you not rather be known as the most useful man in the world?'
-'I do not think so,' said the scholar, 'for nobody can decide whether anyone really is useful: they can only believe it.'

The Sufi waved his hand, and, in a trice, the scholar was transformed into the most famous and distinguished sage in the world.
After same months of travelling, the Sufi changed his dress and appearance, and those of the disciple, so that they looked entirely different. Now he said:

-'Let us retrace our steps and see how our advice and actions have taken effect.'

In due time they came upon the man with the goats, and found that he had become a tyrant, whom everyone feared.

-'People,' said the Sufi, 'imagine that they need affluence to be good, whereas it may make them worse, for it can give them opportunities which they did not have before.'

Then they saw the woman, who was now married but spent all her time titivating herself.

-'If she had been told to make herself better before becoming beautiful, she would not have taken any notice,' said the Sufi.

Finally they arrived at the house of the teacher, who was so surrounded by admirers that they had difficulty in gaining an audience.
-'Tell me,' said the Sufi, 'did you attain this importance by yourself, or was it perhaps through the wonder-working of one of those wise men?'
-'Wise men?' said the scholar; 'there is no such thing. Wonderworkers, indeed! Be off with you!'

Now the Sufi waved his hand again, and all the people returned to where they had been at the beginning.

-'The advice which people need before they can improve and make use of healing and of good counsel, and of good fortune,' he told his pupil, 'is already available to them, and has been repeated for centuries.

When they start in large numbers to take heed of this, then the Sufis will be able to give them further direction. Until then, it is only those few who want to learn, not those who want to gain, who will remain the responsibility of the wise. And it is these people who obtain the gifts which the Sufis can give’.

 

The Stone & the Tree

THE STONE AND THE TREE

 

There was once a dervish in Abadan, whose cell was always surrounded by disciples, people who had come from far and near to hear his wisdom and try to achieve knowledge and spiritual fulfilment. Sometimes he spoke to them, sometimes he did not. Sometimes he read from books, and sometimes he made them perform various tasks. The disciples tried, for decades, to understand the purport of his words, to fathom the depth of his signs and symbols, and in every way possible to get closer to his wisdom.

Those who understood what he taught, were the ones who did not spend time trying to puzzle out things. They cultivated patience and attention, and refrained from looking for verbal associations from books and from what others had told them. The majority, however, as is the way of the world, were sometimes elated, sometimes sad, and always covetous, even if it was only for wisdom and their well-being. They had all kinds of explanations for this way of thinking except the real ones.

At long last, after many years had passed, one of these disciples plucked up enough courage to approach the master directly and said:‘There are a number of us, o wise one, who have been trying to follow the path of knowledge for most of our lives. Now, as some are old and others are getting older, we feel that we have to open our hearts to you, saying that we need a further indication of how we should proceed’.The dervish gave a long sigh and answered:‘Come with me to the seashore and I’ll show you something which tells you everything, if you can only hear it’.
At the pebble-strewn beach, the dervish took a stone from the water and asked a disciple: ‘How long has this stone been here?’

The man said: ‘It is worn smooth, so it must have been rolled back and forth, under the surf, for perhaps several thousand years’.‘Now’, said the dervish: ‘Take this wet stone and crack it open, then tell me what you find’. They smashed the stone and saw that it was very much the same inside as it was out.

‘You observe’, said the dervish, ‘that although submerged in the sea for accounted ages, the innermost part of this stone is as dry as if it had never been near water. You people are like the stone. Surrounded by wisdom, you do not allow it to penetrate. Unlike the stone, there is a talisman, which will let the transforming quality suffuse you, to your innermost being. That quality is patience, forbearance and openness, things which you call three qualities, but which are in reality only one’.
Next the dervish took his followers onto a hill overlooking the sea, where in spite of the aridity of the place, a magnificent tree grew.‘This tree’, he said, ‘can live and grow tall and fruitful where nothing else can. This is possible to it only because it has made worthy efforts, signalled by the inner quality of the seed which gave it birth, to penetrate deep into the earth to find water. ‘Learn the lesson, my friends’.