The Ocean of Light — Page 24
24 to their words, will fill their saddle bags. They go out at daybreak with the firm intention of finding someone who will benefit them financially. They frighten the general public with their admonishing sermons, but despite their sermonising, they themselves do not fear God. Through their poetry they earn platitudes in multiple gatherings, but then end their recitals by presenting their needs and destitution before the people, assuaging their anxious preoccupation with dirhams and dinars. They saunter into the presence of noblemen and masquerade as great scholars blessed by the Almighty God with abundant knowledge of the Holy Quran and Hadith. People seek from them all kinds of guidance to counter the mischief and trickery of Christian missionaries. They present themselves as if they are protectors of the Faith: among those who spend their wealth and efforts in the way of religion for the sake of the Almighty Lord; as if they are among those whose only preoccupation is to deliver