The ship carried many Muslim pilgrims to Mecca. All of them prayed, as befits devout Muslims, several times a day, except for one Sufi mystic. But the mystic was so beaming with joy that no one dared to reprimand him.
Once the sea was very stormy, and the captain announced that there seemed to be no way to escape:
“So, please say what may be your last prayer.” The ship may be about to sink.
And everyone, with the exception of the Sufi mystic, plunged into prayer.
Now it was too much. The pilgrims gathered around him, they were angry and said to him:
- You are a man of God. We see this. You have not prayed before, and we have not told you anything; we felt it would be disrespectful because you look like a blessed person. But now it's unbearable. The ship is sinking, and you are God's man; if you pray, your prayer will be heard. Why don't you do this?
He replied:
“Praying out of fear means missing out.”
Then they asked:
- Why didn’t you pray when there was no reason to fear?
He replied:
- I am prayer, this is my usual state.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru