Muslim Saints and Mystics: Episodes from the Tadhkirat by Farid ud-Din Attar, Arthur J. Arberry
By Farid ud-Din Attar, Arthur J. Arberry
Prose translation of elements of the 13th-century Persian epic of Attar, giving anecdotes of Islamic saints and mystics.
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Example text
Hasan of Basra and Abu Amr It is related that Abu Amr, the leading authority on the reading of the Koran, was teaching the Koran one day when suddenly a handsome boy arrived to join his class. Abu Amr gazed at the child improperly, and immediately he forgot the whole Koran, from the p of “Praise” to the n of “jinn and men”. A fire possessed him, and he lost all self-control. In this state he called on Hasan of Basra and described to him his predicament. “Master,” he wept bitterly, “such is the situation.
Once every year people come out to visit him. First an immense army circles the tent, and they say: “O prince, if this circumstance that has befallen thee had come about in war, we would have all sacrificed our lives for thee, to ransom thee back. ” This they say, and then return. The philosophers and the scholars come forward, and say: “This circumstance has been brought about by one against whom we cannot do anything by means of learning and philosophy, science and sophistry. For all the philosophers of the world are powerless before him, and all the learned are ignorant beside his knowledge.
Another man came with a demand. Having nothing left, Habib 22 habib al-ajami gave him his wife’s chaddur. To another claimant he gave his own shirt, and remained naked. He repaired to a hermitage on the banks of the Euphrates, and there gave himself up to the worship of God. Every night and day he studied under Hasan, but he could not learn the Koran, for which reason he was nicknamed the Barbarian. Time passed, and he was completely destitute. His wife asked him for housekeeping money constantly.