As militant Islam does its best to discredit the religion, it is important to remember that there are other voices within the faith. One such is the Sufis, a branch of Islamic mystics with roots in many religious traditions. The lessons of Sufism are often communicated through humorous stories and mystical or romantic poetry. As a part of Joe's Good News Saturdays, we spend some time each week with the Sufis and their "wisdom of idiots."
This week, we have another Mulla Nasrudin tale...
"Allah will provide," said Nasrudin one day to a man who was complaining that someone had stolen some cash from his house.
The man expressed doubt.
Nasrudin took him to the mosque, and rolled on the ground, calling upon Allah to restore the man's twenty silver coins.
Annoyed by his presence, the congregation made a collection and the sum was handed to the surprised loser.
"You may not understand the means which operate in this world," said the Mullah, "but I trust that you understand the end when it is handed to you in such a concrete form."
As always, this Sufi tale works on many levels. Superficially, it works as a joke: Nasrudin takes an unexpected and absurd path to perform a good deed, indulging in a bit of slapstick along the way. But there are instructional interpretations of the tale, as well...what lessons can we draw from the lesson Nasrudin delivers to the robbed man, and what do his actions -- and the response to them -- say about the congregation?
My take is that the humor is essential, as is the rolling on the ground of a holy man. Together they mean that we should not deem ourselves to be above getting our hands dirty in the exertions necessary to make ends meet. If we make the exertions with free abandon and laugh at our predicament, we'll be adequately provided for by a mysteriously aloof and teasing mechanism whose providence we should take as the punch lines to our comedic plights.
One lesson this story suggests is that we shouldn't take an outcome as evidence of any particular mechanism operating - since, as the saying has it, the Lord works in mysterious ways.
Putting it in another way, if you have several theories that all make the same prediction, you can't adjudicate between them. Which is where faith comes in.