Stain

It is related that a man went to the assembly of the master Baqi Billah of Delhi and said:

 

‘I have been reading the famous verse of the Master Hafiz. “if your teacher bids you stain your prayer-carpet with wine, obey him,” but I have a difficult.’

 

Baqi-Billah said:

 

‘Dwell apart from me for some time and I shall illustrate the matter for you.’

 

After a considerable period of time, the disciple received a letter from the sage. It said: “Take all the money you have and give it to the gate-keeper of any brother.”

 

The disciple was shocked, and for a time thought that the master must be a fraud. After wrestling with himself for days, however, he went to the nearest house of ill fame and presented the man at the door with all the money which he had.

 

‘For such a sum of money’ said the doorman, ‘I shall allot you the choicest gem of our collection, an untouched woman.’

 

As soon as he entered the room, the woman there said:

 

‘I have been tricked into being in this house, and am held here by force and threats. If your sense of justice is stronger than your reason for coming here, help me to escape.’

 

Then the disciple knew the meaning of the poem of Hafiz. ‘If your teacher bids you stain your prayer-carpet with wine, obey him.’

~ by Shaykh on April 17, 2008.