The Morals of Dervishes
STORY LXXXIII
I asked a good man concerning the [good] qualities of the brethren of purity.[1] He replied: "The least of them is that they prefer to please their friends rather than themselves; and philosophers have said that a brother who is fettered by affairs relating to himself is neither a brother nor a relative."
If thy fellow-traveller hastens, he is not thy fellow. Tie not thy heart to one whose heart is not tied to thine. When a kinsman possesses no virtue and piety, then severing connection is better than love of kinship.
I remember that an opponent objected to the last two lines, saying: "God the Most High and Glorious has in His noble Book prohibited the severing of connection with relatives, and has commanded us to love them; what thou hast alleged is contrary to it."
I replied: "Thou art mistaken, because, according to the Qurân, Allah the Most High has said, 'If they both [i.e. father and mother] strive to induce thee to associate with Me that concerning which thou hast no knowledge, obey them not.'"[2]
A thousand kinsmen who are strangers to God
Are the sacrifice for one stranger who knows Him.
- ↑ Also the Sûfis are called 'Ikhvân-ussafa,' or 'Brethren of Purity,' by some; although the name properly applies to a celebrated literary society which produced many works of interest.
- ↑ Qurân, ch.xxxi, v.14. Here by 'associating with,' the attributing of partners to God, namely idolatry, is meant.
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