Sufis, unlike other mystics or supposed possessors of special Knowledge, have a reputation for arrogance. This arrogance, as they themselves say, is due only to the lack of understanding of their behavior by other people. “A man,” they say, “who knows how to get fire without rubbing wood against wood and talks about it, will seem arrogant to one who does not know how.”
They are also considered to be extremely generous. Their generosity, they say, is where it really matters. Their detachment from material things is only a reflection of their generosity in wisdom.
People who wish to study the Sufi path often practice generosity with material possessions in an attempt to achieve the highest form of generosity.
One day a dispute arose among the Arabs as to who was the most generous among the living. The debate went on for days and, in the end, the number of candidates, by general agreement, was reduced to three.
Since the supporters of these three were on the verge of resorting to fist-fighting, a committee was appointed to come to a final decision. The committee decided that, as a visual test, a letter should be sent to each of these three people with the following content: “Your friend Vais is in great need. He asks you to help him financially.”
Three representatives were chosen to find these people, convey the message to them and report the results.
The first messenger arrived at the house of the First Generous Man and told what the committee had instructed him to say. The First Generous Man said:
- Don't bother me with such trifles. Just take whatever you want that belongs to me and give it to my friend Vais.
When the ambassador returned, the assembled people decided that, truly, there could not be greater generosity than this - and arrogance too.
But the second messenger, when he delivered his letter, received this answer from the servant of the Second Generous Man:
“Since my master is indeed very arrogant, I could not bother him with a message of any kind.” But I will give you everything he has, as well as a deed of gift for his real estate.
The committee, having received this answer, imagined that, without a doubt, this was the most generous man in Arabia. However, they have not yet reviewed the results of the third messenger's mission.
He arrived at the house of the Third Generous Man, who told him:
- Pack up all my property for now and take this note to the moneylender to liquidate all the real estate, and then wait here a little until a person from me comes to you.
With these words, the Third Generous Man left.
When the messenger completed his task, he found that the market agent was already waiting for him at the door. Agent said:
“If you are a messenger from Vais to his friend, then I must give you money for one slave just sold at the market.”
The slave was the Third Generous Man.
They further say that Vais himself, who was a member of the judicial committee, visited a certain house a few months later, where the slave serving him turned out to be his friend, the Third Generous Man.
Vais said:
- The joke can go too far! Isn't now the time for you to free yourself from slavery?
The Third Generous Man, who was a Sufi, said:
— A joke for some may not be a joke for others. Moreover, according to the law, I earn my release by agreement with my master. There are only two or three years left until I will be free again.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru