deceptive appearances

The heights by great men reached and kept,
were not attained by sudden flight.
But they, while their companions slept,
were toiling upward in the night.

                                          (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow). 

The extended hope (tatwil al amal) is a poison that assures oneself that the death is long way off---a mental environment that leads people to live their days as if a long life is guaranteed. The dangers of this delusion are self evident. Of the entire world’s wonders one that astounds many is that no man who seeing others dying around him believes that he will also one day die. At the same time if people did not have hope, no worldly things would materialize. People won’t marry; they won’t build families, houses or even plant trees.

There would be no infrastructure for the next generation. Because human beings do have aspirations they sow orchards and the like. The famous Persian story of the king and the farmer about bearing of fruit by the tree planted by the latter is known to us all.

People, despite their riches, live pious life with out drawing themselves to the urge of coveting the world. These people have a clear understanding as to how to balance their focus on piety, how to adorn their outward with out getting ensnared in the worldly affairs as also work on the beatification of their inward soul and purification of their heart.    

There is a Moroccan parable about an ascetic who heard about alearned man, a sheikh, who was beloved to God---a saint. The ascetic came down from the mountain riding a lion to meet the sheikh. He arrived at the sheikh’s home and saw that he lived in a palace. The ascetic who lived in a mountain cave was shocked at the luxury in which the sheikh lived. The sheikh came out to greet the ascetic, who asked the sheikh, where can I put my lion?’ the sheikh told him ‘put him in the barn with my cow.’ The ascetic objected, saying,’ he‘ll eat your cow.’ The sheikh told him ‘do not worry. Just put him in the barn with the cow.’ The ascetic did as he was told. The two then had a large sumptuous dinner, though the ascetic was accustomed to eating only water and dates. At night the sheikh went to sleep, while the ascetic stayed up all night in prayer, annoyed by the snoring of the sheikh he heard through the door. The next morning, the ascetic prepared to leave and went to the barn to retrieve his lion. He did not find his lion because the cow ate it. He then said to the sheikh, where is my lion?’ the sheikh told him ‘your lion is just like you; it is all outward. You thought my cow was a harmless cow, but he was lion inside. ‘Outward appearances can fool people. They are deceptive. It is not only fine feathers that make fine birds. The fact is that great men never feel great and at the same time small men never feel small.