Pleasant Stories & Anecdotes — Page 65
Pleasant Anecdotes—Converting A Thief Into A Saint 65 requested his mother to give him some advice. ‘Do not ever lie my son’, she said, ‘This will bring with it immense blessing. ’ With this advice, he embarked on his quest. It so happened that there were some robbers and pillagers who lived in the jun- gle that he passed through, who would loot travellers. These rob- bers spotted ‘Abdul-Qādir J i l a ni rta from afar and when they came close, they found a simple ascetic. One of them mockingly inquired: ‘Do you have anything in your possession?’ A short time ago, ‘Abdul-Q a dir had heard the advice to not speak falsehood, and so he immediately said: ‘Yes, there are forty coins in my underarm, which my mother has sewn to my shirt as a pouch. ’ The first robber thought that he was only retorting sarcastically. But when the second robber inquired the same, he gave the same response. Hence, ‘Abdul-Qādir J i l a ni rta responded to every robber in the same manner, who were aston- ished that we have never seen such a truthful person. They, then, took him to their leader and narrated all the account. When the leader questioned him, he got the same response. Upon this, he ordered to search his clothes. When they searched him, the robbers found forty coins. They were astonished that this was some strange person, and that they had never seen such an individual before. The leader inquired: ‘What is the reason behind you revealing the whereabouts of your wealth?’ ‘I have set out to seek religious knowledge,’ said ‘Abdul-Qādir J i l a ni rta, ‘and my mother advised me to never speak falsehood; this was my first test, so why would I lie? I would have achieve noth- ing if I had lied at my first stop, and therefore, I did not leave the truthfulness. ’ Upon hearing this, the leader of the robbers began to weep and