It happened once upon a time that a young man came to see Mullah Nasruddin. This young man was desperate – by the grace of God he had inherited a large amount of money from his family but he had invested some of it badly, and in a short time squandered the rest away in various amusements. Now everything was gone.
“Mullah,” the young man groaned, “I am penniless, and all my friends have left me. What can I do?”
The Mullah stroked his beard and spoke in consoling tones. “Don’t worry my son,” he said, “Soon, you will be all right. Just wait and see.”
The young man brightened. He had heard of the Mullah’s wisdom; perhaps, he thought, he could even see the future. “You mean, soon I will be rich again?” he said hopefully.
“No,” said the Mullah sadly. “I mean you will get used to being poor and friendless. Everyone else does.”
This seems sad indeed. The need or to be able…to surrender to unfortunate circumstances in life is one thing and can be tough, but to do so without giving the young man hope for any new perspective, without faith? This seems a bit harsh to me…
With warm regards, Sakina
Dear Sakina, perhaps the Mullah’s reply would be different for others. It is possible that the young man needs to learn something about the unreliability of the external life. For another person, maybe the lesson would be more hopeful. But these are ‘stories,’ not scriptures, and we can retell them as we wish.
Sending kindest greetings,
Nawab