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The Vine There was a man, who lived in a city and one day, who planted a vine that is known for being of a kind that produces eatable grapes only after thirty years. When the man was planting the vine, the Commander of the Faithful was passing by and after pausing for sometime, the Commander of the Faithful said the man that he was a remarkable optimist. He also asked the man if he was hoping to live until that kind of vine bears fruit. In reply, the man said that he is not sure whether he will, but he was sure about one thing that at least his successors will live to benefit from his work, juts like all of them were benefiting from the work of their predecessors. Hearing the remarks, the Commander of the Faithful asked the man to bring some of the grapes to him; if in any case, any grapes are produced. He added that that can be possible only if both of them escape the sword of death that is always hanging over them. Saying this, he went on his way. After some years, the vine started to bear delicious grapes and the man filled a large basket with the choicest bunches and went to the palace, for giving the grapes to the Commander of the Faithful. The Commander received the man with happiness and also gave him a handsome present of gold. The entire story spread out in the city at once and the people were talking about how an insignificant peasant has been given a huge sum in exchange for a basket of grapes. When an ignorant woman heard this news, she immediately filled a basket with the grapes of her own garden and went to the palace. She said that guard that she demands the same recompense as the man who was rewarded this morning. She showed the guards the grapes of her garden and said that if the king gives money for fruit, here is fruit. The guards soon reported to the Commander of the Faithful and hearing this, the ruler got upset. He said that he let those people to be driven away, who act by imitation and the arrogance that underlies the lack of inquiry into the circumstances, which they try to imitate. The Rogue, the Sheep and the Villagers: This is a story about the rogue, the sheep and the villagers. One of the Sufi saints from the Qadiri Order described the story to his followers. Once, the people of the village caught the rogue and tied him to a tree for contemplating the sufferings that they were going to inflict upon him. The people went away after taking the decision of throwing the rogue into the sea in that evening and they got engaged into their day's work. However, an ignorant and dumb shepherd came along and asked the clever rogue the reason why the villagers tied him up like that. In reply, the rogue said that some of the villagers had put him there, as he was not going to accept their money. Astonished after hearing this, the shepherd again asked the rogue about why the villagers wanted to give him the money and also why he would not accept the money. To this, the rogue said that he was a contemplative person and the villagers wanted to make him corrupted. He added that the villagers were godless men. Then, the shepherd suggested the rogue that they should exchange their respective places and he also advised the rogue to run away and put himself out of reach of the godless ones. So, the shepherd got into the position of the rogue. After the nightfall, the people of the village came back to the place. They just put a sack over the shepherd's head and threw him into the sea, after tying him hard. Then, all of the villagers got amazed to see the rogue coming into the village in the next morning, along with a flock of sheep. The villagers soon rushed to the rogue and enquired from where he was coming and also from where he did get those animals. The rogue replied that he got the animals in the sea, where there were kindly spirits and they reward those to all, who jump in and "drown" in this manner. As soon as the rogue completed his answer, all the people rushed to the seashore and jumped into the sea. The rogue took his revenge over the villagers by this way. The Horrid Dib-Dib: This is a nice story with an important lesson and the story involves a thief, an old woman and a strange sound, Dib-Dib. One night the thief went to the old woman's house with an intention of robbing. He silently crept to the open window of the house and listened carefully for any kind of sound. The old woman was lying on the bed and soon, the thief heard the lady saying something in a very strange manner. The lady was saying that the horrid, abominable Dib-Dib sound was going to bring the end of her life. Hearing this, the thief thought that the unfortunate old woman must be suffering from some horrible disease, named the malignant Dib-Dib, something that he did not even heard before. These kinds of thoughts of the thief started to take over on his mind and he also soon started to fear that he had, indeed, contracted the injurious Dib-Dib. He started to shake in every limb, within a few moments and somehow he could only manage to come back to his home, to his wife. He told his wife that he had no doubt about the fact that the sinister Dib-Dib had got him in its grip. His wife became afraid and got him to bed at once. She was totally clueless about what had attacked her husband and she just imagined that he must have been pounced upon by some wild animal, named a Dib-Dib. The thief was becoming less and less coherent by the time and the wife went to the local holy man, named, Sheikh Faqih, whom she knew to be best qualified to deal with such a problem. When Faqih came to the thief's home, the thief thought that it was the end of his life. He said Faqih that the old woman at the end of the road had the accursed disease of Dib-Dib and the disease had flown upon him from her. He requested Faqih to help him, if he could. To this, Faqih asked the thief to bethink himself of repentance and pray for mercy, as his remaining hours might now indeed be very few. Saying this, Faqih left the thief's house and went to the old woman's home to peer through the window. While doing so, Faqih distinctly heard the woman's whimpering voice as she was uttering the same lines that the thief heard. After hearing the lady's words for sometime, Faqih himself began to feel as if he was also getting infected by the disease and he soon started to shake. His hands started to clutch the window-frame and that caused it to clatter like the chattering of teeth. The old woman woke up from her bed after hearing such noise and caught hold of Faqih by her hands. She asked Faqih what he was doing at this time of night, looking through the window of decent people. Faqih faltered a bit and told the old woman that he heard her speaking of the awful Dib-Dib, and he was afraid that it has its clutches upon his heart, just like her own. To this, the old lady shouted at Faqih calling him an incredible fool and said that the appalling Dib-Dib was in fact the sound of a dripping tap. Then, Faqih suddenly felt that he was marvellously restored by the relief from his troubles and he also hurried back to the house of the thief. He took some water and said certain words over it, before making the thief promise never to steal again. He finally sprinkled the prepared water over the thief with many a polysyllabic word and then spread the water over the thief's body and the thief sat up and got cured. The Plant This story involves the founder of the Qadiri Order of Sufism, Abdul-Qadir Gilani himself. One day, a flower in a pot was seen at the entrance of Gilani's house. There was a notice beside the flower that asked to smell the flower and to guess what it was. Each person who entered that house, was given writing materials, and was also invited to write the answer, if he wished. Abdul-Qadir Gilani watched all the procedure throughout the say and at the end of the day; he handed over a box that contained all the answers, to a disciple. He said that disciple that every person, who had given the answer of "A Rose", may remain to proceed with the teaching, according to his own desire. Gilani added that anyone who had written nothing, or anything other than "A rose", should be dismissed. Hearing the orders of Abdul-Qadir Gilani, one of the disciples asked whether it was necessary to resort to superficial methods for judging the fitness for discipleship. Gilani replied the student that though he knew the answers, he wished to demonstrate for all the others that superficial manifestations signal interior character. After saying this, he handed the followers a list that contained the names of each one who had written "A rose". He handed over the list in spite of not seeing the answers of the entrants. With this, Gilani had actually illustrated one meaning of the phrase: "The obvious is the link to the True". |
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