Part of our long-running Saturday Sufi Wisdom series.

It has been a while, but I thought I'd take a second this weekend to briefly return this tradition to Winds. This one is from Fadiman & Frager's Essential Sufism, courtesy of the wisdom of Sheikh Muzaffer:

"One evening a sheikh was talking about humility and service. He spoke eloquently about service and putting others' needs before our own. Then, someone asked, "What do you do with the arrogant? How can you serve the arrogant?"

The sheikh drew himself up and raised his powerful voice: "With the arrogant, you must behave arrogantly!" Everyone was shocked.

Then, the sheikh went on. To treat the arrogant with humility would be like giving them poison. It would only feed their arrogance."

Back in our May 15, 2004 installment, Idries Shah puts this lesson in context.