[Reader-list] a sufi story

[Monica Narula]

Here is a Sufi story, perhaps 800 years old, that can be interpreted 
in many ways, and one way could have a relationship with much of what 
we discuss...

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The Story of Fire 

Once upon a time a man was contemplating the ways in which Nature 
operates, and he discovered, because of his concentration and 
application, how fire could be made.

This man was called Nour. He decided to travel from one community to 
another, showing people his discovery.

Nour passed the secret to many groups of people. Some took advantage 
of the knowledge. Others drove him away, thinking that he must be 
dangerous, before they had had time to understand how valuable this 
discovery could be to them. Finally, a tribe before which he 
demonstrated became so panic-stricken that they set about him and 
killed him, being convinced that he was a demon.

Centuries passed. The first tribe which had learned about fire 
reserved the secret for their priests, who remained in affluence and 
power while the people froze.

The second tribe forgot the art and worshipped instead the 
instruments. The third worshipped a likeness of Nour himself, because 
it was he who had taught them. The fourth retained the story of the 
making of fire in their legends: some believed them, some did not. 
The fifth community really did use fire, and this enabled them to be 
warmed, to cook their food, and to manufacture all kinds of useful 
articles.

After many, many years, a wise man and a small band of his disciples 
were travelling through the lands of these tribes. The disciples were 
amazed at the variety of rituals which they encountered; and one and 
all said to their teacher: 'But all these procedures are in fact 
related to the making of fire, nothing else. We should reform these 
people!

The teacher said: 'Very well, then. We shall restart our journey. By 
the end of it, those who survive will know the real problems and how 
to approach them.'

When they reached the first tribe, the band was hospitably received. 
The priests invited the travellers to attend their religious 
ceremony, the making of fire. When it was over, and the tribe was in 
a state of excitement at the event which they had witnessed, the 
master said: 'Does anyone wish to speak?'

The first disciple said: 'In the cause of Truth I feel myself 
constrained to say something to these people.' 'If you will do so at 
your own risk, you may do so,' said the master.

Now the disciple stepped forward in the presence of the tribal chief 
and his priests and said: 'I can perform the miracle which you take 
to be a special manifestation of deity. If I do so, will you accept 
that you have been in error for so many years?' But the priests 
cried: 'Seize him!' and the man was taken away, never to be seen 
again.

The travellers went to the next territory where the second tribe were 
worshipping the instruments of fire-making. Again a disciple 
volunteered to try to bring reason to the community. With the 
permission of the master, he said: 'I beg permission to speak to you 
as reasonable people. You are worshipping the means whereby something 
may be done, not even the thing itself. Thus you are suspending the 
advent of its usefulness. I know the reality that lies at the basis 
of this ceremony.'

This tribe was composed of more reasonable people. But they said to 
the disciple: 'You are welcome as a traveller and stranger in our 
midst. But, as a stranger, foreign to our history and customs, you 
cannot understand what we are doing. You make a mistake. Perhaps, 
even, you are trying to take away or alter our religion. We therefore 
decline to listen to you.'

The travellers moved on. When they arrived in the land of the third 
tribe, they found before every dwelling an idol representing Nour, 
the original fire-maker. The third disciple addressed the chiefs of 
the tribe: 'This idol represents a man, who represents a capacity, 
which can be used.'

'This may be so,' answered the Nour-worshippers, 'but the penetration 
of the real secret is only for the few.' 'It is only for the few who 
will understand, not for those who refuse to face certain facts,' 
said the third disciple.

'This is rank heresy, and from a man who does not even speak our 
language correctly, and is not a priest ordained in our faith,' 
muttered the priests. And he could make no headway.

The band continued their journey, and arrived in the land of the 
fourth tribe. Now a fourth disciple stepped forward in the assembly 
of the people. 'The story of making fire is true, and I know how it 
may be done,' he said.

Confusion broke out within the tribe, which split into various 
factions. Some said: 'This may be true, and if it is, we want to find 
out how to make fire.' When these people were examined by the master 
and his followers, however, it was found that most of them were 
anxious to use firemaking for personal advantage, and did not realize 
that it was something for human progress. So deep had the distorted 
legends penetrated into the minds of most people that those who 
thought that they might in fact represent truth were often unbalanced 
ones, who could not have made fire even if they had been shown how.

There was another faction, who said: 'Of course the legends are not 
true. This man is just trying to fool us, to make a place for himself 
here.' And a further faction said: 'We prefer the legends as they 
are, for they are the very mortar of our cohesion. If we abandon 
them, and we find that this new interpretation is useless, what will 
become of our community then?' And there were other points of view, 
as well.

So the party travelled on, until they reached the lands of the fifth 
community, where firemaking was a commonplace, and where other 
preoccupations faced them. The master said to his disciples: 'You 
have to learn how to teach, for man does not want to be taught. First 
of all, you will have to teach people how to learn. And before that 
you have to teach them that there is still something to be learned. 
They imagine that they are ready to learn. But they want to learn 
what they imagine is to be learned, not what they have first to 
learn. When you have learned all this, then you can devise the way to 
teach. Knowledge without special capacity to teach is not the same as 
knowledge and capacity.'
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Ahmed el-Bedavi (died 1276) is reputed to have said, in answer to the 
question: 'What is a barbarian ?' : 
'A barbarian is one whose perceptions are so insensitive that he 
thinks that he can understand by thinking or feeling something which 
can be perceived only through development and constant application to 
the striving towards God.

'Men laugh at Moses and Jesus, either because they are utterly 
insensitive, or because they have concealed from themselves what 
these people really meant when they talked and acted.'

According to dervish lore, he was accused of preaching Christianity 
by Moslems, but repudiated by Christians because he refused to accept 
later Christian dogma literally. He was the founder of the Egyptian 
Bedavi Order.
-- 
Monica Narula
Sarai:The New Media Initiative
29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110 054
www.sarai.net