Mawlana Bahauddin was walking with Allauddin from Nishapur along a grassy bank. Allauddin said:
“I would like to know why you deprived people of the pleasure they received from so many Sufi traditions.” You may be right in saying that such activities are trivial, and perhaps I am the first to agree with you. But when you don't allow people's companionship to be a source of joy for them, you leave them with nothing.
Bahauddin replied:
- Look, the situation is unfolding before us. Watch her, dear defender of legal pleasures, and you will receive the answer, if you can understand it.
Several boys played in front of the interlocutors. They caught a squirrel, tied its paws and began tossing it to each other. Running from place to place, the children rolled with laughter, squealing with delight and pleasure. A few moments later, another older boy saw what the children were doing and ran up to them. He took the squirrel from them, untied it and let it go. The naughty boys became terribly angry and began to shout at the elder, teasing him and insulting him in every possible way.
Allauddin subsequently said:
“I am sure that if it were not for this scene, I would never have felt the kinship of these situations, and would not have realized the hidden dangers in what we consider legitimate pleasures.” Since then, and throughout my life, I have often discovered that what seems desirable is achieved at the expense of something else, and that what gives people pleasure, even if they are “sincere” people, can develop in them a desire for unexpected vices.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru