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Stories CLX and CLXI

a Pir-instructor say to his Murid: "The mind of man is so much occupied with thoughts about maintenance, that he would surpass the position of angels if he were to devote as many of them to the giver of maintenance. Yazed has not forgotten thee at the time when thou wast a germ, buried, insensible; He gave thee a soul, nature, intellect, and perception, beauty, speech, opinion, meditation, and acuteness; He arranged five fingers on thy fist; He fixed the two arms to thy shoulders. O thou whose aspirations are base! Thinkest He will now forget to provide thee with a maintenance?"

an Arab of the desert who said to his boy: "O son! on the day of resurrection thou wilt be asked what [merit] thou hast gained, and not from whom thou art descended—that is to say, thou wilt be asked what thy merit is, and not who thy father was. The covering of the Ka'bah which is kissed has not been ennobled by the silkworm; it was some days in company with a venerable man, wherefore it became respected like himself."