Guidance for Perceiving Minds — Page 84
84 the thoughts of the Ummah coexist in one heart? Whoever falls upon dry plants will find the door to the state closed. They beg people like female mourners. They lose subsistence, thinking only of food. You see some of them pawning the graves of their fathers to pay off their creditors, in order to spend what the charitable fund entrusted to them and to eat what was offered to the bodies of their ancestors. And if you say, “O ye, may Allah pro- tect you, do you think that your father’s grave is something that could be bought and sold?” He would say, “Be quiet, you curious one. You do not know what we know and see. ” Then he recounts a thousand miracles of his ancestors, claiming that no milk comes out of the breasts of their camels without their succession. They go around with a pot under their arms, a stick in their hands, a rosary to go through its beads, beards they have length- ened and drawn out, garments they have greened, and skin they have freshened, as if they were saints or spiritual guiding stars, then after a while it appears that they are dogs or wolves, and their ultimate concern is a sack, in which dirhams, dry date or raisins is filled. You will not find in them any sign of their poverty other than the braids falling under their ears, just like the scholars who know nothing except leading prayers and the call to prayer. You do not find a trace of blessings in their rooms, rather, you find everyone behaving as if he is the father of Ab u Zayd 1 , lying and engaging in evil behaviour. They devour people’s money by claiming to be 1. Ab u Zayd as-Sur uji , a fictional character in H ar i r i ’s Maq ama t who possesses eloquence and good speech, which he uses to deceive people to obtain money from them. [Publisher]