Sufi Wisdom: Nine or Ten?
T.L. James writes MarsBlog. Part of our weekly Sufi Wisdom series. As terrorist 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.
One night, Mullah Nasrudin had a strange dream: an unknown wealthy man visited him and gave him nine dinars. Mullah asked him: "And why only nine? Give me another, to make it a round number."Who is the wealthy man, and what do the dinars represent? And what is the lesson Nasrudin's dream is mean to teach us?
The man ignored him. Mullah insisted, begged, and groveled so much that he finally woke up. Seeing his empty hand, he cursed his bad character that had made him lose his unexpected gift. Next, laying himself back down to sleep, he closed his eyes, held out his hand, and excused himself: "Ok, fine, just give me the nine dinars."
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Persons wishing to contact the author of this article for reprints etc. should put a request in the Comments section, or send an email to "joe", over here @windsofchange.net.