Bahauddin el-Shah, the great teacher of the dervishes of the Naqshbandi brotherhood, once met a brother in the large square of Bukhara.
The visitor was a wandering dervish (qalandar) from the Malamatiya brotherhood - people of censure. Next to Bahauddin were his disciples.
-Where did you come from? - he asked a traditional question, as is customary among Sufis.
“I have no idea,” he answered, smiling stupidly.
Some of Bahauddin's disciples muttered disapprovingly at such disrespect.
-Where are you going? - Bahauddin insisted.
“I don’t know,” shouted the dervish.
-What is good?
By this time a large crowd had gathered around.
- Don't know.
-What is evil?
- I have no idea.
-What is justice?
- Whatever is good for me.
-What is injustice?
- Everything that is bad for me.
The crowd, outraged by the behavior of this dervish, drove him away. He purposefully walked in the direction where - everyone knew - no road led.
- Fools! - said Bahauddin Naqshbandi. — This person plays the role of an ordinary person. While you didn’t care about him, he deliberately demonstrated inattention, as each of you does, unconsciously, every day.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru