by T.L. James of Mars Blog and Man of Two Worlds. Part of our weekly Sufi Wisdom series.
This Nasrudin tale comes from a book on the wisdom of jokes, written by director Alejandro Jodorowsky (of cult film El Topo fame), and concerns -- at the surface -- the hidden dangers of entering into a contract with Mullah Nasrudin:After suffering a few setbacks, Mullah Nasrudin is obligated to sell the home he inherited from his father. Taking advantage of the situation, a man without scruples makes him a lowball offer. Nasrudin knows perfectly well that he’s dealing with a thief, but he accepts the offer, under one small condition.
“What’s that?” asks the buyer.
“As you can see for yourself, there’s a nail in this wall… a nail that was hammered in by my father, and it’s the only keepsake I have of him. I’ll sell you the house, but I wish to continue on as owner of this nail. If you accept my condition, you’ve got a deal. As for the nail, I’ll obviously have the right to hang anything I want on it.What is the significance of the nail? And what was really going on in the house?The buyer relaxes, thinking one nail in a house is no big deal.
“Will you come often?” asks the man.
“No, not too often,” responds Mullah.
The buyer accepts the clause. Then they sign a contract for sale before the appropriate authorities, with Mullah Nasrudin continuing on as the legal owner of the nail, with the rights to do whatever he wanted with it. The new owner takes possession of the property and installs himself and his whole family in the house. One day, Nasrudin shows up.
“Can I see my nail?”
“Of course, please come in!” cordially answers the owner.
Mullah enters, becomes absorbed in thought in front of the nail, and leaves.
A few days later, he returns with a small, framed photo of his father.
“Can I see my nail?”
The owner lets him in and Nasrudin hangs his picture (his right, as properly stipulated in the contract).
The next time, he comes with an overcoat and a tunic.
“These are some articles of clothing that belonged to my father. I want to hang them on the nail,” Nasrudin tells the owner, who’s beginning to show a bit of impatience.
A little time goes by when Mullah arrives hauling a cow’s carcass.
“What are you going to do with that carcass?” asks the owner, stupefied.
“The truth is I’m going to hang it on my nail.”
He does it right away, deaf to the surprised owner’s supplications. The police show up on the scene of the dispute and, based on the contract, uphold Nasrudin’s position. The carcass begins to rot, to the dismay of the impotent owner. After a certain time, Nasrudin comes back with another carcass that he hangs on the nail. The stench is so bad that the owner sees himself forced to abandon the property. And that’s how Mullah Nasrudin got his house back.
I think the story is telling us that we can't give our whole life to G*d with any reservations like that. If it's not complete, we might as well not bother.
I think it is saying, beware of making a deal with a Mullah, because even if you think your getting a good deal, they intend to stab you in the back and leave you nothing.
Stargazer
Fairness is of the light, possessiveness of the dark. The house was tainted with greed like a giant rotting corpse.
The nail represents his just ownership.
For some reason, this reminds me of various stories about bargaining with God, most famously Abraham haggling God down to find just 10 good men in Sodom and Gomorrah in order to spare those cities from destruction, in order to preserve his relative Lot. Regardless of Abraham's machinations, both cities are destroyed; yet Lot is saved, along with most of his family.
In this case, Nasrudin haggled his stake in the house down to just a nail, and his right to hang anything he wanted on it. The buyer thought he was getting a steal. Yet Nasrudin prevailed, and saved his house.
More comicly, he was able to cleanse his house of the greedy buyer by resorting to an unclean carcass. Similary, God chases Lot from Sodom by dangling the bait of two handsome strangers in front of that perverted town's menfolk.
I don't think this is all that's in this story's sub-text, but just the one that sprung to mind foremost.
Greetings,
The Mullah Nasrudin has the strength of a hundred camels in the courtyard. The powers that be have a way of thinking out of the box (as he did) if they choose to do so. In my opinion.
Best regards,
Tom
The new home owner should just have pulled the nail and handed it to the Mullah. Done.
Salaam (Peace) to all...
I think I agree with "A Steve".
Many people put "conditions" on their contract with Allah(God).
"Yes, Lord, I will give my Life to your service, AS LONG AS I can hold onto THIS."
Before you know it, "THIS" becomes "THIS and THAT", then "THIS, THAT and THE OTHER THING", and so on.
I agree...better not to sign that kind of contract, than to sign with those kinds of conditions. Allah(God) will accept nothing less than complete surrender.