Pleasant Stories & Anecdotes — Page 5
Pleasant Stories—Do Not Celebrate The Death Of An Enemy 5 Do Not Celebrate the Death of an Enemy Even if an enemy of yours meets their death, so what? And if he remains alive, then what? To cause benefit or harm lies within the power and control of the Almighty God. No human being can cause harm to another. Sa‘dī has written an anecdote in his Gulistān that someone brought the good news to Nusherwan that a certain enemy of his had been killed, and that his country and fortress had been taken over by Nusherwan’s forces. Nusherwan gave a marvellous response: The death of my enemy brings me no joy; For even our own life is not forever. (Malf ūzā t, vol. 1, p. 359) Only Humans Can Become Pious The condition of man during his childhood indicates that man also is born like animals such as cows and bulls; except that one of the good traits in man’s nature is that he leaves evil and adopts good. This virtue is only present in humans. Animals do not have an aptitude for learning. Sa‘dī has also written a story in poetic form and stated that a fool tried to educate a donkey. He worked on it day and night. A wise person asked him, ‘O Fool! What are you doing? And why are you wasting your time and intellect for nothing? You cannot