85. DOES THE DEVIL EXIST? -- More Sufi Wisdom

Excerpts

from

"The Tale

of the Reed Pipe:
Teachings
of the Sufis",

by

Massud Farzan,

E. P. Dutton,

1974

 
Lessons from
Mohammad Ghazali:
 
DOES THE DEVIL EXIST?
 
One can entertain
such thoughts
as
whether
Satan
is
a real entity
and,
if so,
whether
something material
can enter
man's body.
 
But
such questions
are
irrelevant
to
transactional knowledge.
 
The person
who occupies himself
with
such problems
is like
the one who
finds a snake
creeping
up his sleeve;
instead of
ridding himself
of
the danger
immediately
by
removing the snake,
he wants
first
to
ascertain its color,
measure
its size,
and
determine its shape.
 
This
is
sheer lunacy.
 
[p. 61]
 
+++

A TALENTED MAN

LIKE YOU
-- AN EXAMPLE
 
The Devil
may address
a scholar
in this way:
"Don't you see
how
people
are suffering
from
their ignorance?
 
Don't you
want
to alleviate
their sorrow
through
your
teaching
and
guidance?
 
God
has given you
intellectual
and
verbal talents.
 
Why
shouldn't you
avail yourself
of them
instead of
letting
God's bounties
go to waste?
 
How
can you
remain silent?
 
The Devil
keeps hammering
his subtle persuasions
until
the learned man
becomes convinced
that he should
set about
teaching people.
 
But then
the Devil
intimates
to the scholar:
"You should
embellish
your thoughts
with
pretty language
and
impressive conceits.
 
Also
play up
your
qualifications.
 
Otherwise
your words
won't have
much effect;
they
won't reach
people's hearts
and
they
will not succeed
in attaining
the truth."
 
He
will go on
whispering such
innuendoes
in
the poor
scholar's ears.
 
What
the Devil
is
actually doing
is
subtly leading
his victim
into hypocrisy,
to
the desires
of
fame,
prestige,
and
respectability,
to
the desire
for
selling
his knowledge
and
for becoming
more and more
self-important.
 
The Devil
goes on
in this fashion,
pulling his victim
further and further
into the marshes
of doom.
 
And the scholar
gives lectures
and interviews,
thinking
that
his intentions
are good
and godly.
 
[p. 61 - 62]
 
+++
 
Lessons from
Sa'di of Shiraz
(who died in 1291):
 
ON BEING
A DERVISH
 
Ten dervishes
will sleep
under
a blanket,
while
two rulers
cannot be
accommodated
in
one continent.
 
[p. 34]
 
+++
 
THE VIZIER
WHO LOST HIS OFFICE
 
A certain vizier
who had been
expelled
from
the royal court
sought
the company
of
the dervishes.
 
The blessing
of their
proximity
affected him
favorably
and
soon his mind
attained peace
and
tranquility.
 
About this time
the king's
previous opinion
of
the dismissed vizier
changed
and
he
asked the man
to
accept
his office back.
 
The king's offer
was
turned down.
 
Trying to win
the abused
vizier over,
the king said:
"But
you are
the only
intelligent man
worthy
of my court."
 
The ex-vizier
replied:
"How can
a person
be
intelligent
and do
what
the holders
of these offices
are
supposed to do?"
 
[p. 35]
 
+++
 
PEARLS
 
I once heard
an Arab
telling this story
amidst
a group
of jewelers
from Basra:
 
Once upon
a time
I lost my way
in
the middle
of a desert.
 
I had
nothing to eat
and
pretty soon
gave myself up
for lost.

Then,

all of a sudden,
I found
a full sack.
 
I'll never forget
the joy
I felt,
for
I thought
that the sack
was full
of
roasted wheat
or
rice.
 
And
I shall
never forget
the feeling
of
utter bitterness
and
disillusionment
when
I saw
that
the contents
of the sack
was
nothing
but
pearls.
 
[p. 39]
 
+++