It happened once upon a time that a certain Shaikh was walking with a large number of students, and they came to a garden. The atmosphere of the garden was very peaceful and inspiring, and in a moment of ecstasy, the Shaikh plucked a rose and kissed it, saying, “Glory be to the Creator of such beauty!”

Immediately all the students began to pull roses from the bushes and do the same, but this made the gardener very angry. “You are destroying my garden,” he said to the students.

“Ignorant man,” the students replied. “How little you know of the path! Are we not students? We merely do as our master has done.”

The Shaikh observed this exchange, but said nothing.

Then the Master walked further, with the students following, until he came to a blacksmith’s forge. There, lying in the coals, a bar of iron glowed bright orange. Seizing this with his bare hand, the Shaikh kissed the metal, crying “Glory be to the Creator of such beauty!”

And turning to the students, the Master offered them the bar, but none reached out to take it.

“Are you not students?” the Master asked them, and they hung their heads in shame.