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understanding of the materials; sections of each remain, largely for
reasons of personal insecurity and attachment to over-simplified
ideologies, uninterested or hostile.
It is further worth noting that much of Western religion and
tradition is thoroughly saturated with Eastern tales and stories,
many of them, according to Sufis, originally tales of inner mean-
ing, now taken as literal truth or only analogy. And tales and
stories are almost the only cultural phenomenon which are found
as the property of all peoples of the world, not belonging, strictly
speaking, to anyone.
OPPOSITION TO ARABI
Ibn Arabi taught through what was apparently love-poetry, and
people became bitterly hostile towards him. This behaviour of
theirs was due to their inability to understand the projection
which he was using, not to the reality of their imaginings. But
their suppositions about him and his work were firmly believed by
them to represent the truth, to be factual in nature. In his case, he
was able to teach them further by providing a commentary which
satisfied them and caused them to hail him as a great mystic. But
in so doing, since they had not arrived at this understanding
through inward and personal perception, they were cut off from
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the benefits of the material's actual use within themselves. They
were only intellectually and emotionally satisfied. Their percepaon
of him was limited to a reassurance that his ideas did not conflict
with their own ingrained beliefs.
It is this mentality of what is in fact superficial assessment which
causes the poverty of potential understanding in people who seek
only explanation and not perceptions.
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Stories of the Miraculous
Q: Are the 'miraculous' stories of the doings of Sufis literally
true, or are they designed to illustrate structures equivalent to
what may happen, or are they intended to make people credulous
or to 'think in a new way' ?
A: The answer is the same as the answer to such a question as
'Is a carrot yellow, is it intended to give nourishment, or to
propagate itself, or to make up stories about?' The truth is that,
under the right circumstances all of the factors may be true,
according to what use is made of them.
You can use dervish tales to impress people, if they want to
be impressed or if you gain anything from such deception, and
many people do actually do so.
Again, the hearers can misuse them if they insist upon being
impressed, or upon being cynical about them. They almost always,
too, contain structures and immediate values which may be ana-
logical; and they may be again and again repeated in actual
events, which makes them literally true when they recur in their
cyclical fashion.
Q: Can I have an example of one which you can remember as
actually having happened, as well as being traditional and as
representing a pattern?
THE KING AND THE WOODCUTTER
A: Here is one, very well known among the Afghans, and
attributed nowadays to Ahmad Shah the first king of modern
Afghanistan:
Ahmad Shah was crowned King with a wreath by a certain
dervish, respected by all. From that time on, he often wore the
dervish mantle, and roamed among his subjects, seeking to im-
prove the quality of his rule.
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One day he visited, in this disguise, a woodcutter, living in a
forest shack. 'What would you do if you could not sell your
wood?' he asked. 'Respected Dervish,' said the woodcutter, 'I
would trust in God and find something.'
The next day the king had it proclaimed that no woodcutters
were to be allowed into the city, and a day or two later visited the
man again, in his disguise.
'How are you living) now that the King has taken such a strange
attitude towards woodcutters?' he asked.
'Weil, now I make leather belts and sell them to the shops.
Trusting in God, I have enough to eat.'
The king left him and some time later issued an edict that no
item of leather was to be sold in the shops.
When Ahmad Shah visited his poor woodcutter-leather-belt-
maker again, he said: 'How are you getting on, now that Fate
seems to be pursuing you and has stopped your new career?'
'Sir,' said the other man, 'I trust in God and work as a market
porter. All is well, and I have enough to eat.'
Ahmad Shah now caused all market porters to be conscripted
into the Palace Guard, without any pay, and not even to be given
anywhere to sleep.
That night the king went in his dervish cloak to see his friend,
and found him in his hut, eating some food and whittling wood.
'What are you doing?' asked the king. 'I have been taken into
the Royal Guard, but without food or anywhere to sleep,' said
the man; 'so I have pawned the sword they issued me, bought the
necessary food, and I am making a dummy sword until my future
shall further be known.'
The king went back to his palace.
The following morning the Commander of the Guard called
the woodcutter and ordered him to behead a prisoner. They
walked together to the place of execution, where the king, as was
the custom, was waiting. The woodcutter did not recognise the
king in his crown and royal robes, but saying 'Trusting in God',
he drew his wooden sword and awaited the order to strike.
The prisoner said: 'In the Name of God, may this sword refuse
to cut-for I am innocent!' The wood-cutter dropped his sword
on the ground. After an investigation the condemned man was
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found to be innocent after all. Ahmad Shah was so impressed that [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]