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    "slug": "saadi-gulistan",
    "name": "Gulistan (Saadi)"
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      "name": "Sufi Poets",
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  "chapter": {
    "num": 8,
    "slug": "07-chapter-vii-the-influence-of-education",
    "title": "Chapter VII: The Influence of Education",
    "of": 9,
    "words": 6301,
    "text": "## Chapter VII: The Influence of Education\n\n\nON THE EFFECTS OF EDUCATION\n\n Story 1\n\n A vezier who had a stupid son gave him in charge of a scholar to\ninstruct him and if possible to make him intelligent. Having been some\ntime under instruction but ineffectually, the learned man sent one\nto his father with the words: 'The boy is not becoming intelligent and\nhas made a fool of me.'\n\n When a nature is originally receptive\n Instruction will take effect thereon.\n No kind of polishing will improve iron\n Whose essence is originally bad.\n Wash a dog in the seven oceans,\n He will be only dirtier when he gets wet.\n If the ass of Jesus be taken to Mekkah\n He will on his return still be an ass.\n Story 2\n\n A sage, instructing boys, said to them: 'O darlings of your fathers,\nlearn a trade because property and riches of the world are not to be\nrelied upon; also silver and gold are an occasion of danger because\neither a thief may steal them at once or the owner spend them\ngradually; but a profession is a living fountain and permanent wealth;\nand although a professional man may lose riches, it does not matter\nbecause a profession is itself wealth and wherever he goes he will\nenjoy respect and sit in high places, whereas he who has no trade will\nglean crumbs and see hardships:\n\n It is difficult to obey after losing dignity\n And to bear violence from men after being caressed.\n\n Once confusion arose in Damascus.\n Everyone left his snug corner.\n Learned sons of peasants\n Became the veziers of padshahs.\n Imbecile sons of the veziers\n Went as mendicants to peasants.\n\n If you wanted thy father's inheritance, acquire his knowledge\n Because this property of his may be spent in ten days.\n\n Story 3\n\n An illustrious scholar, who was the tutor of a royal prince, had the\nhabit of striking him unceremoniously and treating him severely. The\nboy, who could no longer bear this violence, went to his father to\ncomplain and when he had taken off his coat, the father's heart was\nmoved with pity. Accordingly he called for the tutor and said: 'Thou\ndost not permit thyself to indulge in so much cruelty towards the\nchildren of my subjects as thou inflictest upon my son. What is the\nreason?' He replied: 'It is incumbent upon all persons in general to\nconverse in a sedate manner and to behave in a laudable way but more\nespecially upon padshahs because whatever they say or do is\ncommented on by everybody, the utterances or acts of common people\nbeing of no such consequence.\n\n 'If a hundred unworthy things are committed by a dervish\n His companions do not know one in a hundred.\n But if a padshah utters only one jest\n It is borne from country to country.\n\n 'It is the duty of a royal prince's tutor to train up the sons of\nhis lord in refinement of morals-and Allah caused her to grow up as\na beautiful plant-more diligently than the sons of common people.'\n\n He whom thou hast not punished when a child\n Will not prosper when he becomes a man.\n While a stick is green, thou canst bend it as thou listest.\n When it is dry, fire alone can make it straight.\n\n The king, being pleased with the appropriate discipline of the tutor\nand with his explanatory reply, bestowed upon him a robe of honour\nwith other gifts and raised him to a higher position.\n\n Story 4\n\n I saw a schoolmaster in the Maghrib country, who was sour-faced,\nof uncouth speech, ill-humoured, troublesome to the people, of a\nbeggarly nature and without self-restraint, so that the very sight\nof him disgusted the Musalmans and when reading the Quran he\ndistressed the hearts of the people. A number of innocent boys and\nlittle maidens suffered from the hand of his tyranny, venturing\nneither to laugh nor to speak because he would slap the\nsilver-cheeks of some and put the crystal legs of others into the\nstocks. In short, I heard that when his behaviour had attained some\nnotoriety, he was expelled from the school and another installed as\ncorrector, who happened to be a religious, meek, good and wise man. He\nspoke only when necessary and found no occasion to deal harshly with\nanyone so that the children lost the fear they had entertained for\ntheir first master and, taking advantage of the angelic manners of the\nsecond, they acted like demons towards each other and, trusting in his\ngentleness, neglected their studies, spending most of their time in\nplay, and breaking on the heads of each other the tablets' of their\nunfinished tasks.\n\n If the schoolmaster happens to be lenient\n The children will play leapfrog in the bazar.\n\n Two weeks afterwards I happened to pass near that same mosque\nwhere I again saw the first master whom the people had made glad by\nreconciliation and had reinstalled in his post. I was displeased,\nexclaimed 'La haul', and asked why they had again made Iblis the\nteacher of angels. An old man, experienced in the world, who had heard\nme, smiled and said: 'Hast thou not heard the maxim?\n\n A padshah placed his son in a school,\n Putting in his lap a silver tablet\n With this inscription in golden letters:\n The severity of a teacher is better than the love of a father.'\n\n Story 5\n\n The son of a pious man inherited great wealth left him by some\nuncles, whereon he plunged into dissipation and profligacy, became a\nspendthrift and, in short, left no heinous transgression unperpetrated\nand no intoxicant untasted. I advised him and said: 'My son, income is\na flowing water and expense a turning mill; that is to say, only he\nwho has a fixed revenue is entitled to indulge in abundant expenses.\n\n 'If thou hast no income, spend but frugally\n Because the sailors chant this song:\n \"If there be no rain in the mountains\n The bed of the Tigris will be dry in one year.\"\n\n 'Follow wisdom and propriety, abandon play and sport because thy\nwealth will be exhausted, whereon thou wilt fall into trouble and will\nrepent.' The youth was prevented by the delights of the flute and of\ndrink from accepting my admonition but found fault therewith, saying\nthat it is contrary to the opinion of intelligent men to embitter\npresent tranquillity by cares concerning the future:\n\n Why should possessors of enjoyment and luck\n Bear sorrow for fear of distress?\n Go, be merry, my heart-rejoicing friend.\n The pain of tomorrow must not be eaten today.\n\n And how could I restrain myself, who am occupying the highest seat\nof liberality, have bound the knot of generosity and the fame of whose\nbeneficence has become the topic of general conversation?\n\n Who has become known for his liberality and generosity\n Must not put a lock upon his dirhems.\n When the name of a good fellow has spread in a locality\n The door cannot be dosed against it.\n\n When I perceived that he did not accept my advice and that my warm\nbreath was not taking effect upon his cold iron, I left off\nadmonishing him and turned away my face from his companionship, acting\naccording to the words of philosophers, who said: Impart to them\nwhat thou hast and if they receive it not, it is not thy fault.\n\n Although thou knowest thou wilt not be heard, say\n Whatever thou knowest of good wishes and advice.\n It may soon happen that thou wilt behold a silly fellow\n With both his feet fallen into captivity,\n Striking his hands together, and saying: 'Alas,\n I have not listened to the advice of a scholar.'\n\n After some time I saw the consequences of his dissolute\nbehaviour-which I apprehended-realized. When I beheld him sewing patch\nupon patch and gathering crumb after crumb, my heart was moved with\npity for his destitute condition, in which I did not consider it\nhumane to scratch his internal wounds with reproaches or to sprinkle\nsalt upon them. Accordingly, I said to myself:\n\n A foolish fellow in the height of intoxication\n Cares not for the coming day of distress.\n The tree which sheds its foliage in spring\n Will certainly have no leaves remaining in winter.\n\n Story 6\n\n A padshah entrusted a tutor with the care of his son, saying:\n'This is thy son. Educate him as if he were one of thy own\nchildren.' He kept the prince for some years and strove to instruct\nhim but could effect nothing, whilst the sons of the tutor made the\ngreatest progress in accomplishments and eloquence. The king\nreproved and threatened the learned man with punishment, telling him\nthat he had acted contrary to his promise and had been unfaithful.\nHe replied: 'O king, the instruction is the same but the natures are\ndifferent.'\n\n Although both silver and gold come from stones\n All stones do not contain silver and gold.\n Canopus is shining upon the whole world\n But produces in some places sack-leather and in others adim.\n\n Story 7\n\n I heard a pir-instructor say to his murid: 'The mind of man is so\nmuch occupied with thoughts about maintenance that he would surpass\nthe position of angels if he were to devote as many of them to the\ngiver of maintenance.'\n\n Yazed has not forgotten thee at the time\n When thou wast sperm, buried, insensible.\n He gave thee a soul, nature, intellect and perception,\n Beauty, speech, opinion, meditation and acuteness.\n He arranged five fingers on thy fist.\n He fixed two arms to thy shoulders.\n O thou whose aspirations are base, thinkest he will now\n Forget to provide thee with a maintenance?\n\n Story 8\n\n I saw an Arab of the desert who said to his boy: 'O son, on the\nday of resurrection thou wilt be asked what thou hast gained and not\nfrom whom thou art descended, that is to say, thou wilt be asked\nwhat thy merit is and not who thy father was.'\n\n The covering of the Ka'bah which is kissed\n Has not been ennobled by the silkworm.\n It was some days in company with a venerable man\n Wherefore it became respected like himself.\n\n Story 9\n\n It is narrated in the compositions of philosophers that scorpions\nare not born in the same manner like other living beings but that they\ndevour the bowels of their mother and, after gnawing through the\nbelly, betake themselves to the desert. The skins which may be seen in\nthe nests of scorpions are the evidence of this. I narrated this story\nto an illustrious man who then told me that his own heart bore witness\nto the truth of it for the case could not be otherwise inasmuch as\nthey, having in their infancy dealt thus with their fathers and\nmothers, they were beloved and respected in the same manner when\nthey grow old.\n\n A father thus admonished his son:\n O noble fellow, remember this advice.\n 'Whoever is not faithful to his origin\n Will not become the companion of happiness.'\n\n A scorpion, having been asked why he did not go out in winter,\nreplied: 'What honour do I enjoy in summer that I should come out also\nin winter?'\n\n Story 10\n\n The wife of a dervish had become enceinte and when the time of her\nconfinement was at hand, the dervish who had no child during all his\nlife said: 'If God the most high and glorious presents me with a\nson, I shall bestow everything I possess as alms upon dervishes,\nexcept this patched garment of mine which I am wearing.' It happened\nthat the infant was a son. He rejoiced and gave a banquet to the\ndervishes, as he had promised. Some years afterwards when I returned\nfrom a journey to Syria, I passed near the locality of the dervish and\nasked about his circumstances but was told that he had been put in\nprison by the police. Asking for the cause, I was told that his son,\nhaving become drunk, quarrelled and having shed the blood of a man,\nhad fled; whereon his father was instead of him loaded with a chain on\nhis neck and heavy fetters on his legs. I replied: 'He had himself\nasked God the most high and glorious for this calamity.'\n\n If pregnant women, O man of intellect,\n Bring forth serpents at the time of birth,\n It is better in the opinion of the wise\n Than to give birth to a wicked progeny.\n\n Story 11\n\n When I was a child I asked an illustrious man about puberty. He\nreplied: 'It is recorded in books that it has three signs. First,\nthe age of fifteen years; secondly nocturnal pollutions; and\nthirdly, sprouting of hair on the pudenda; but in reality there is\nonly one sign which is sufficient that thou shouldst seek the\napprobation of the most high and glorious rather than to be in the\nbondage of sensual pleasures; and whoever does not entertain this\ndisposition is by erudite men considered not to have attained\npuberty.'\n\n The form of man was attained by a drop of water\n Which remained forty days in the womb.\n If in forty years it has not attained sense and propriety\n It can in reality not be called a man.\n Virility consists in liberality and amiableness.\n Think not that it is only in the material figure.\n Virtue is necessary because the form may be painted\n In halls with vermilion or verdigris.\n If a man possesses not excellence and goodness\n What is the difference between him and a picture on the wall?\n It is no virtue to gain the whole world.\n Gain the heart of one person if thou canst.\n\n Story 12\n\n One year discord had arisen in a caravan among the walking portion\nand I also travelled on foot. To obtain justice we attacked each\nother's heads and faces, giving full vent to pugnacity and contention.\nI saw a man sitting in a camel litter and saying to his companion:\n'How wonderful! A pawn of ivory travels across the chess-board and\nbecomes a farzin, and the footmen of the Haj travelled across the\nwhole desert only to become worse.'\n\n Tell on my part to the man-biting Haji\n Who tears the skins of people with torments:\n Thou art not a Haji but a camel is one\n Because, poor brute, it feeds on thorns and bears loads.\n\n Story 13\n\n An Indian who was learning how to throw naphtha was thus reproved by\na sage: 'This is not a play for thee whose house is made of reeds.'\n\n Speak not unless thou knowest it is perfectly proper\n And ask not what thou knowest will not elicit a good reply.\n\n Story 14\n\n A little man with a pain in his eyes went to a farrier to be treated\nby him. The farrier applied to his eyes what he used to put in those\nof quadrupeds so that the man became blind and lodged a complaint with\nthe judge who, however, refrained from punishing the farrier,\nsaying: 'Had this man not been an ass, he would not have gone to a\nfarrier.' The moral of this story is to let thee know that whoever\nentrusts an inexperienced man with an important business and\nafterwards repents is by intelligent persons held to suffer from\nlevity of intellect.\n\n A shrewd and enlightened man will not give\n Affairs of importance to a base fellow to transact.\n A mat-maker although employed in weaving\n Is not set to work in a silk-factory.\n\n Story 15\n\n An illustrious man had a worthy son who died. Being asked what he\ndesired to be written upon the sarcophagus of the tomb, he replied:\n'The verses of the glorious book' are deserving of more honour than to\nbe written on such a spot, where they would be injured by the lapse of\ntime, would be walked upon by persons passing by and urinated upon\nby dogs. If anything is necessarily to be written, let what follows\nsuffice:\n\n Wah! How-every time the plants in the garden\n Sprouted-glad became my heart.\n Pass by, O friend, that in the spring\n Thou mayest see plants sprouting from my loam.'\n\n Story 16\n\n A pious man happened to pass near a rich fellow who had a slave\nand was just chastising him after having tied his feet and hands. He\nsaid: 'My son, God the most high and glorious has given a creature\nlike thyself into thy power and has bestowed upon thee superiority\nover him. Give thanks to the Almighty and do not indulge in so much\nviolence towards the man because it is not meet that in the morn of\nresurrection he should be better than thyself and put thee to shame.'\n\n Be not much incensed against a slave.\n Oppress him not, grieve not his heart.\n Thou hast purchased him for ten dirhems\n And hast not after all created him by thy power.\n How long is this command, pride and power to last?\n There is a Master more exalted than thou.\n O thou owner of Arslan and of Aghosh,\n Do not forget him who is thy commander.\n\n There is a tradition that the prince of the world, upon whom be\nthe benediction of Allah and peace, has said: 'It will occasion the\ngreatest sorrow on the day of resurrection when a pious worshipper\nis conveyed to paradise and a lord of profligacy to hell.'\n\n Upon the slave subject to thy service\n Vent not boundless anger but treat him gently\n Because on the day of reckoning it will be a shame\n To see the slave free and his owner in chains.\n\n Story 17\n\n One year I travelled from Balkh with Damascenes and the road being\nfull of danger on account of robbers, a young man accompanied us as an\nescort. He was expert with the shield and the bow, handled every\nweapon and so strong that ten men were not able to span his\nbow-string. Moreover the athletes of the face of the earth could not\nbend his back down to the ground. He was, however, rich, brought up in\nthe shade, without experience in the world, the drum-sounds of\nwarriors never having reached his ears nor the lightning of the swords\nof horsemen dazzled his eyes.\n\n He had not fallen prisoner into the hands of a foe.\n No shower of arrows had rained around him.\n\n I happened to be running together with this youth, who threw down by\nthe force of his arm every wall that came in his way, and pulled up by\nthe strength of his fist every big tree he saw, exclaiming,\nboastingly:\n\n Where is the elephant that he may see the shoulders of the heroes?\n Where is the lion that he may see the fists of men?\n\n On that occasion two Indians showed their heads from behind a\nrock, desirous to attack us. One of them had a club in his hand whilst\nthe other showed a sling under his arm. I asked our youth what he\nwas waiting for.\n\n Show what thou hast of bravery and strength\n For here is the foe, coming on his own feet to the grave.\n\n I saw the arrow and bow falling from the hands of the young man\nand his bones trembling:\n\n Not everyone who splits a hair with a cuirass-piercing arrow\n Can, on the day of attack by warriors, extricate his feet.\n\n We saw no other remedy but to abandon our baggage, arms and clothes,\nwhereby we saved our lives.\n\n Employ an experienced man in important affairs\n Who is able to ensnare a fierce lion with his lasso.\n A youth, though he may have a strong arm and elephant-body,\n His joints will snap asunder for fear in contact with a foe.\n The issue of a battle is known by a tried man before the contest\n Like the solution of a legal question to a learned man.\n\n Story 18\n\n I noticed the son of a rich man, sitting on the grave of his\nfather and quarreling with a dervish-boy, saying: 'The sarcophagus\nof my father's tomb is of stone and its epitaph is elegant. The\npavement is of marble, tesselated with turquois-like bricks. But\nwhat resembles thy father's grave? It consists of two contiguous\nbricks with two handfuls of mud thrown over it.' The dervish-boy\nlistened to all this and then observed: 'By the time thy father is\nable to shake off those heavy stones which cover him, mine will have\nreached paradise.'\n\n An ass with a light burden\n No doubt walks easily.\n\n A dervish who carries only the load of poverty\n Will also arrive lightly burdened at the gate of death\n Whilst he who lived in happiness, wealth and ease\n Will undoubtedly on all these accounts die hard.\n At all events, a prisoner who escapes from all his bonds\n Is to be considered more happy than an amir taken prisoner.\n\n Story 19\n\n I asked an illustrious man for the reason of the tradition:\nAccount as an enemy the passion which is between thy two loins. He\nreplied: 'The reason is because whatever enemy thou propitiatest\nbecomes thy friend, whereas the more thou indulgest in a passion,\nthe more it will oppose thee.'\n\n Man attains angelic nature by eating sparingly\n But if he be voracious like beasts he falls like a stone.\n He whose wishes thou fulfillest will obey thy command\n Contrary to passion, which will command, when obeyed.\n\n Story 20\n\n Contention of Sa'di with a Disputant concerning Wealth and Poverty\n\n I saw a man in the form but not with the character of a dervish,\nsitting in an assembly, who had begun a quarrel; and, having opened\nthe record of complaints, reviled wealthy men, alleging at last that\nthe hand of power of dervishes to do good was tied and that the foot\nof the intention of wealthy men to do good was broken.\n\n The liberal have no money.\n The wealthy have no liberality.\n\n I, who had been cherished by the wealth of great men, considered\nthese words offensive and said: 'My good friend, the rich are the\nincome of the destitute and the hoarded store of recluses, the objects\nof pilgrims, the refuge of travellers, the bearers of heavy loads\nfor the relief of others. They give repasts and partake of them to\nfeed their dependants and servants, the surplus of their\nliberalities being extended to widows, aged persons, relatives and\nneighbours.'\n\n The rich must spend for pious uses, vows and hospitality,\n Tithes, offerings, manumissions, gifts and sacrifices.\n How canst thou attain their power of doing good who art able\n To perform only the prayer-flections and these with a hundred\n distractions?\n\n If there be efficacy in the power to be liberal and in the ability\nof performing religious duties, the rich can attain it better\nbecause they possess money to give alms, their garments are pure,\ntheir reputation is guarded, their hearts are at leisure. Inasmuch\nas the power of obedience depends upon nice morsels and correct\nworship upon elegant clothes, it is evident that hungry bowels have\nbut little strength, an empty hand can afford no liberality,\nshackled feet cannot walk, and no good can come from a hungry belly.\n\n He sleeps troubled in the night\n Who has no support for the morrow.\n The ant collects in summer a subsistence\n For spending the winter in ease.\n\n Freedom from care and destitution are not joined together and\ncomfort in poverty is an impossibility. A man who is rich is engaged\nin his evening devotions whilst another who is poor is looking for his\nevening meal. How can they resemble each other?\n\n He who possesses means is engaged in worship.\n Whose means are scattered, his heart is distracted.\n\n The worship of those who are comfortable is more likely to meet with\nacceptance, their minds being more attentive and not distracted or\nscattered. Having a secure income, they may attend to devotion. The\nArab says: 'I take refuge with Allah against base poverty and\nneighbours whom I do not love. There is also a tradition: Poverty is\nblackness of face in both worlds.'\n He retorted by asking me whether I had heard the Prophet's saying:\nPoverty is my glory. I replied: 'Hush! The prince of the world alluded\nto the poverty of warriors in the battlefield of acquiescence and of\nsubmission to the arrow of destiny; not to those who don the patched\ngarb of righteousness but sell the doles of food given them as alms.'\n\n O drum of high sound and nothing within,\n What wilt thou do without means when the struggle comes?\n Turn away the face of greed from people if thou art a man.\n Trust not the rosary of one thousand beads in thy hand.\n\n A dervish without divine knowledge rests not until his poverty,\nculminates in unbelief; for poverty is almost infidelity, because a\nnude person cannot be clothed without money nor a prisoner\nliberated. How can the like of us attain their high position and how\ndoes the bestowing resemble the receiving hand? Knowest thou not\nthat God the most high and glorious mentions in his revealed word\nthe Pleasures of paradise-They shall have a certain provision in\nparadise-to inform thee that those who are occupied with cares for a\nsubsistence are excluded from the felicity of piety and that the realm\nof leisure is under the ring of the certain provision.\n\n The thirsty look in their sleep\n On the whole world as a spring of water.\n\n Wherever thou beholdest one who has experienced destitution and\ntasted bitterness, throwing himself wickedly into fearful adventures\nand not avoiding their consequences, he fears not the punishment of\nYazed and does not discriminate between what is licit or illicit.\n\n The dog whose head is touched by a clod of earth\n Leaps for joy, imagining it to be a bone.\n And when two men take a corpse on their shoulders,\n A greedy fellow supposes it to be a table with food.\n\n But the possessor of wealth is regarded with a favourable eye by the\nAlmighty for the lawful acts he has done and preserved from the\nunlawful acts he might commit. Although I have not fully explained\nthis matter nor adduced arguments, I rely on thy sense of justice to\ntell me whether thou hast ever seen a mendicant with his hands tied up\nto his shoulders or a poor fellow sitting in prison or a veil of\ninnocence rent or a guilty hand amputated, except in consequence of\npoverty? Lion-hearted men were on account of their necessities\ncaptured in mines which they had dug to rob houses and their heels\nwere perforated. It is also possible that a dervish, impelled by the\ncravings of his lust and unable to restrain it, may commit sin because\nthe stomach and the sexual organs are twins, that is to say, they\nare the two children of one belly and as long as one of these is\ncontented, the other will likewise be satisfied. I heard that a\ndervish had been seen committing a wicked act with a youth, and\nalthough he had been put to shame, he was also in danger of being\nstoned. He said: 'O Musalmans, I have no power to marry a wife and\nno patience to restrain myself. What am I to do? There is no\nmonasticism in Islam.\" Among the number of causes producing internal\ntranquility and comfort in wealthy people, the fact may be reckoned\nthat they take every night a sweetheart in their arms and may every\nday contemplate a youth whose brightness excels that of the shining\nmorn and causes the feet of walking cypresses to conceal themselves\nabashed.\n\n Plunging the fist into the blood of beloved persons,\n Dying the finger-tips with the colour of the jujube-fruit.\n\n It is impossible that with his beauteous stature he should prowl\naround prohibited things or entertain intentions of ruin to himself.\n\n How could he who took as booty a Huri of paradise\n Take any notice of the benes of Yaghma?\n\n Who has before him fresh dates which he loves\n Has no need to throw stones on clusters upon trees.\n\n Mostly empty handed persons pollute the skirt of modesty by\ntransgression, and those who are hungry steal bread.\n\n When a ferocious dog has found meat\n He asks not whether it is of the camel of Saleh or the ass of\n Dujjal.\n\n What a number of modest women have on account of poverty fallen into\ncomplete profligacy, throwing away their precious reputation to the\nwind of dishonour!\n\n With hunger the power of abstinence cannot abide.\n Poverty snatches the reins from the hands of piety.\n\n Whilst I was uttering these words, the dervish lost the bridle of\npatience from his hands, drew forth the sword of his tongue, caused\nthe steed of eloquence to caper in the plain of reproach and said:\n'Thou hast been so profuse in this panegyric of wealthy men and hast\ntalked so much nonsense that they might be supposed to be the antidote\nto poverty or the key to the storehouse of provisions; whereas they\nare a handful of proud, arrogant, conceited and abominable fellows\nintent upon accumulating property and money and so thirsting for\ndignity and abundance, that they do not speak to poor people except\nwith insolence, and look upon them with contempt. They consider\nscholars to be mendicants and insult poor men on account of the wealth\nwhich they themselves possess and the glory of dignity which they\nimagine is inherent in them. They sit in the highest places and\nbelieve they are better than anyone else. They never show kindness\nto anybody and are ignorant of the maxim of sages that he who is\ninferior to others in piety but superior in riches is outwardly\npowerful but in reality a destitute man.\n\n If a wretch on account of his wealth is proud to a sage\n Consider him to be the podex of an ass, though he may be a perfumed\n ox.'\n\n I said: 'Do not think it allowable to insult them for they are\npossessors of generosity.' He rejoined: 'Thou art mistaken. They are\nslaves of money. Of what use is it that they are like bulky clouds and\nrain not, like the fountain of light, the sun, and shine upon no\none? They are mounted on the steed of ability but do not use it;\nthey would not stir a step for God's sake nor spend one dirhem without\nimposing obligation and insult. They accumulate property with\ndifficulty, guard it with meanness and abandon it with reluctance,\naccording to the saying of illustrious men that the silver of an\navaricious man will come up from the ground when he goes into the\nground.\n\n One man gathers wealth with trouble and labour\n And if another comes, he takes it without either.'\n\n I retorted: 'Thou hast not become aware of the parsimony of\nwealthy men except by reason of mendicancy or else, to him who has\nlaid aside covetousness, a liberal and an avaricious man would\nappear to be the same. The touchstone knows what gold is and the\nbeggar knows him who is stingy.' He rejoined: 'I am speaking from\nexperience when I say that they station rude and insolent men at their\ngates to keep off worthy persons, to place violent hands upon men of\npiety and discretion, saying: \"Nobody is here\", and verily they have\nspoken the truth.'\n\n Of him who has no sense, intention, plan or opinion,\n The gatekeeper has beautifully said: 'No one is in the house.'\n\n I said this is excusable because they are teased out of their\nlives by people expecting favours and driven to lamentation by\npetitions of mendicants; it being according to common sense an\nimpossibility to satisfy beggars even if the sand of the desert were\nto be transmuted into pearls.\n\n The eye of greediness, the wealthy of the world\n Can no more fill than dew can replenish a well.\n\n Hatim Tai dwelt in the desert; had he been in a town he would have\nbeen helpless against the assaults of beggars and they would have torn\nto pieces his upper garments as it is recorded in the Tayibat:\n\n Look not at me that others may not conceive hopes\n Because there is no reward to be got from beggars.\n\n He said: 'No. I take pity on their state.' I replied: 'No. Thou\nenviest them their wealth.' We were thus contending with each other,\nevery pawn he put forward I endeavoured to repel, and every time he\nannounced check to my king, I covered him with my queen until he had\ngambled away all his ready cash and had shot off all the arrows of his\nquiver in arguing.\n\n Have a care; do not throw away the shield when attacked by an orator\n Who has nothing except borrowed eloquence to show,\n Practise thou religion and marifet because a Suja-speaking orator\n Displays weapons at the gate but no one is in the fort.\n\n At last no arguments remained to him and, having been defeated, he\ncommenced to speak nonsense as is the custom of ignorant men who, when\nthey can no more address proofs against their opponent, shake the\nchain of enmity like the idol-carver Azer who being unable to overcome\nhis son in argument began to quarrel with him saying if thou\nforbearest not I will surely stone thee. The man insulted me. I\nspoke harshly to him. He tore my collar and I caught hold of his\nchin-case.\n\n He falling upon me and I on him,\n Crowds running after us and laughing,\n The finger of astonishment of a world\n On the teeth; from what was said and heard by us.\n\n In short we carried our dispute to the qazi and agreed to abide by a\njust decision of the judge of Musalmans, who would investigate the\naffair and tell the difference between the rich and the poor. When the\nqazi had seen our state and heard our logic, he plunged his head\ninto his collar and after meditating for a while spoke as follows:\n'O thou, who hast lauded the wealthy and hast indulged in violent\nlanguage towards dervishes, thou art to know that wherever a rose\nexists, there also thorns occur; that wine is followed by\nintoxication, that a treasure is guarded by a serpent, and that\nwherever royal pearls are found, men-devouring sharks must also be.\nThe sting of death is the sequel of the delights of life and a cunning\ndemon bars the enjoyment of paradise.\n\n 'What will the violence of a foe do if it cannot touch the seeker of\n the Friend?\n Treasure, serpent; rose, thorn; grief and pleasure are all linked\n together.\n\n 'Perceivest thou not that in a garden there are musk-willows as well\nas withered sticks? And likewise in the crowd of the rich there are\ngrateful and impious men, as also in the circle of dervishes some\nare forbearing and some are impatient.\n\n 'If every drop of dew were to become a pearl\n The bazar would be full of them as of ass-shells.\n\n 'Those near to the presence of the most high and glorious are rich\nmen with the disposition of dervishes and dervishes with the\ninclination of the rich. The greatest of rich men is he who\nsympathizes with dervishes and the best of dervishes is he who looks\nbut little towards rich men. Who trusts in Allah, he will be his\nsufficient support.'\n After this the qazi turned the face of reproof from me to the\ndervish and said: 'O thou who hast alleged that the wealthy are\nengaged in wickedness and intoxicated with pleasure, some certainly\nare of the kind thou hast described; of defective aspirations, and\nungrateful for benefits received. Sometimes they accumulate and put\nby, eat and give not; if for instance the rain were to fail or a\ndeluge were to distress the world, they, trusting in their own\npower, would not care for the misery of dervishes, would not fear\nGod and would say:\n\n If another perishes for want of food\n I have some; what cares a duck for the deluge?\n\n The women riding on camels in their howdahs\n Take no notice of him who sinks in the sana.\n\n The base when they have saved their own blankets\n Say: What boots it if all mankind perishes?\n\n 'There are people of the kind thou hast heard of, and other\npersons who keep the table of beneficence spread out, the hand of\nliberality open, seeking a good name and pardon from God. They are the\npossessors of this world and of the next, like the slaves of His\nMajesty Padshah of the world who is aided by devine grace,\nconqueror, possessor of authority among nations, defender of the\nfrontiers of Islam, heir of the realm of Solomon, the most righteous\nof the kings of the period, Muzaffar-ud-dunia wa uddin Atabek Abu Bekr\nBen Sa'd Ben Zanki, may Allah prolong his days and aid his banners.\n\n 'A father never shows the kindness to his son\n Which the hand of thy liberality has bestowed on mankind.\n God desired to vouchsafe a blessing to the world\n And in his mercy made thee padshah of the world.'\n\n When the qazi had thus far protracted his remarks and had caused the\nhorse of his eloquence to roam beyond the limits of our expectation,\nwe submitted to his judicial decision, condoned to each other what had\npassed between us, took the path of reconciliation, placed our heads\non each other's feet by way of apology, kissed each other's head and\nface, terminating the discussion with the following two distichs:\n\n Complain not of the turning of the spheres, O dervish,\n Because thou wilt be luckless if thou diest in this frame of mind.\n O wealthy man, since thy heart and hand are successful\n Eat and be liberal for thou hast conquered this world and the next.",
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  }
}