Page:Tales from the Gulistan (1928).pdf/136

The Morals of Dervishes

a good man concerning the [good] qualities of the brethren of purity. 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.'"

A thousand kinsmen who are strangers to God Are the sacrifice for one stranger who knows Him.