The following tale is recounted in many ways in various parts the world, but this is given as it was told, with great humour, by Pir-o-Murshid Ali Khan, the cousin-brother of Hazrat Inayat Khan. In Muslim regions, the word ‘Insha Allah’ is often used; it means ‘God willing,’ but also implies some fluidity or uncertainty, for ultimately everything is in God’s hands.

Once upon a time, in Moorish Spain, there was a couple who lived in a little hut in the forest, and it happened one morning that the husband had to go on a journey. “I will go to Córdoba today,” he said to his wife.

The wife replied, “Insha Allah.”

“What?” said the man. “Insha Allah? I tell you, I am going to Córdoba today, and that is that!” And with that he took his leave.

He set off walking in the direction of Córdoba, but he had not gone twenty steps from his door when he was suddenly seized by police who were looking for a robber. He protested that he was innocent, but they forced him to come with them in quite the opposite direction. After a long journey – during which the police were riding comfortably, but the man was walking – they came to the police station, and there he had to wait and be questioned. It took a long time, for the police were very suspicious, but last it was decided that he could go. Then, as he walked homeward, it began to rain.

When he reached his home, cold and wet and tired, it was completely dark, and the wife had closed the door. The man knocked, and the wife called from inside, “Who is it?”

The man replied, “Insha Allah, it is me, your husband, Insha Allah.”