There was a shaykh. He was renowned for his generosity, and so he was always in debt. He had borrowed tens of thousands of liras from the great ones and spent it on the poor of the world. Though indebted, he had also established a tekke (Sufi lodge), and had sacrificed his life, his wealth, and his lodge for the sake of Allah. Just as Allah turned sand into flour for Khalil (Abraham), He would pay off his debts from every direction. The Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “In the marketplaces, two angels are always making dua (supplication).
O Allah, give abundantly to those who give and show ihsan (spiritual excellence); destroy the wealth of the miserly! Especially grant abundantly to the one who offers his life, who sacrifices himself to Allah, who, like Ismail, offers his neck!” Would a knife ever cut such a neck? Cities are alive for this reason, and for this reason they are in pleasure and delight. Do not look only at the outward form like a disbeliever! For Allah, in return, has given them an eternal soul, secure from sorrow, hardship, and evil. The indebted Shaykh continued in this way for years, as if it were his duty to borrow from the people and to give to the people.
Until the day of his death, he continued to sow such seeds in order to be a great lord on the day of his death. When the Shaykh’s life came to an end and the signs of death appeared on his body, the creditors gathered around him. The Shaykh was melting away like a candle. The creditors lost hope, their faces soured, and their troubles increased. The Shaykh said: “Look at these who have fallen into evil suspicion! Does Tanı not have four hundred dinars in gold?”
At that moment, a child outside, hoping to earn a few coins, cried out, “Halva!” The Shaykh signaled to the servant with his head, saying, “Go, buy all the halva, let the creditors eat so that, for a little while at least, they do not look at me with such pain.” The servant immediately went outside to buy all the halva. He asked the halva seller, “How much for all this halva?”
The child said, “A little over half a dinar.” The servant replied, “No, do not ask too much from the Sufis. I will give you half a dinar, do not complain anymore.” He had the halva placed on a plate and brought the plate before the Shaykh. Look at the secret of the Shaykh who possesses mysteries! He signaled to the creditors, “Come, eat this blessed halva lawfully and well.” When the plate was emptied, the child took his plate. “O perfect one, give me my money,” he said. The Shaykh replied, “Where can I find the money? I am a man in debt, and I am also dying!”
The child, in distress, struck his plate on the ground and began to wail and cry out. In his pain, he started to weep loudly, saying, “If only both my legs were broken, if only I had gone to the bathhouse furnace, and had not passed through the door of this tekke!” The Sufis, who are attached to their throats and accustomed to eating, have the hearts of dogs, but like cats, they wash their faces and appear clean.
Because of the child’s cries, many people, both good and bad, gathered around him. The child said, “O wicked Shaykh, my master will surely kill me. If I go back to him empty-handed, he will slaughter me; are you content with this?” The creditors, falling into denial and turning away from the Shaykh, said, “What kind of trick is this? You have eaten our wealth and are leaving indebted. Even so, why did you commit yet another injustice?”
The child cried until the time of the afternoon prayer. As for the Shaykh, he had closed his eyes and was not looking at him at all. He paid no heed to this suffering, to this strange affair. He had drawn his moon-like face into the quilt. Pleased with pre-eternity, joyful with death… He had withdrawn his hands and feet from the blame and gossip of the elite and the common folk! If the soul smiles at a man’s face, what harm is there in people’s sour faces? If the soul kisses someone, does it care about the heavens or the wrath of the heavens? On a moonlit night, when the moon is in the sign of Simak, what fear does it have of dogs or their barking?
The dog fulfills its duty, and the moon continues to spread its light upon the earth. Everyone attends to their own little business. Water does not cease to flow for the sake of a straw. The straw walks upon the water as a straw, and the pure water flows on without becoming turbid. Mustafa (the Prophet), at midnight, splits the moon in two; Abu Lahab, out of spite, utters nonsense! Jesus revives the dead; the Jew, in anger, tears out his beard. Does the dog’s voice reach the ear of the moon? Especially if that moon is a chosen one of Allah.
The king makes merry with music until morning, drinks wine by the riverbank, and is not even aware of the croaking of the frogs. If the child’s money had been distributed equally among those present, each would have received a few coins, and the child would have gotten his money. But the Shaykh’s spiritual power prevented even this act of generosity. Thus, no one gave anything to the child. The power of the elders is even greater than this.
It was now the time of the afternoon prayer. The servant brought a plate of gold coins given by someone as generous as Hatim. The owner of the wealth was a discerning person who knew the Shaykh’s state and had sent him a gift. In one corner of the plate were four hundred dinars, and in another, wrapped in paper, was half a dinar.
The servant came and honored the Shaykh, placing that incomparable plate before him. When the cover was lifted from the plate, the people saw the Shaykh’s karāma (a saintly wonder). Cries rose from all of them: “O chief of the shaykhs, king of kings, what was this? What a secret, what a sovereignty! O master of those who possess secrets! We did not understand, forgive us; we spoke much nonsense, rashly and heedlessly.
We have been swinging sticks blindly, of course we break the lamps. Like the deaf, without hearing a single word, we tried to answer according to our own minds, and uttered delirious things. We did not even take a lesson from Moses. Even he reproached Khidr and his face turned pale. And that, despite his eyes having seen such heights, his eye’s light even penetrating the heavens!
They said, “O Moses of the age, the eye of the mouse in the mill, out of foolishness, tried to contend with your eye.” The Shaykh said, “I have made all those words lawful for you. The secret was this: I asked this from Allah. Allah showed me the right way. That dinar was indeed a small amount of money. But its coming depended on the child’s crying. If the child selling halva had not cried, the sea of mercy would not have surged.” Brother, the child is the child of your body. Know well that attaining your desire also depends on your weeping. If you wish to obtain that garment, make the child of your body’s eye weep.
A zahid (ascetic) once said to a striving friend, “Weep little, lest your eyes be ruined.” The zahid replied: “The matter is of two states only. The eye either sees that Face or does not. If it sees the light of Allah, what sorrow? To lose both eyes for union with Allah is a trivial thing! But if it will not see the light of Allah, the radiance of Allah, then it is better for such a bad eye to be blind.” Do not grieve over your eyes, for Jesus is yours.
Do not walk crookedly, so that He may grant you two straight eyes. The Jesus of your soul is with you, seek help from Him. For when He helps, He helps completely. But O pure soul, do not attack the heart of Jesus with the body filled with bones, do not trample upon his heart! Do not resemble the fool in the story we told to the righteous.
Do not seek bodily life from Jesus, nor desire Pharaoh-like ambitions from Moses! Place little concern for livelihood in your heart; as long as you are at the door, your provision will not decrease. This body is a tent for the soul. Or else, it is like Noah’s Ark. As long as the Turk lives, he will surely find a tent for himself, especially if he becomes a noble one at the door of Truth.