A jackal fell into a painter’s bucket and remained there for a while. Afterward, adorned with paint, he began to proclaim, “I am the peacock of paradise!” His painted plumage shone beautifully, reflecting the sunlight in vibrant colors. The jackal saw himself in shades of green, crimson, pink, and yellow, presenting this colorful facade to his fellow jackals.
They exclaimed, “A young jackal! What a state you’re in! You are clearly delighted, excessively joyful. It seems you harbor disdain for us! Where did you acquire such grandeur?” But one of the jackals retorted, “You either deceive or have genuinely attained a joy that has led you to join the joyous ones.”
“I attempted to ascend the pulpit, to appear noble through words, and to captivate this people,” he continued. “But when I saw no love, no fervor, I succumbed to deceit and embraced shamelessness.” Truth and ardent longing are characteristic of the blessed. Shamelessness is a refuge for every base person. In this way, they attract people with claims of joy, yet their inner selves are far from pleasing.
A lowly man found a piece of tail. Every morning, he oiled his beard with it and went to visit those in positions of power, claiming, “I ate an oily meal at home.” To prove the truth of his words, he would stroke his beard, saying, “Behold the proof of my words, my beard—evidence that I have eaten oily things.”
His stomach, however, remained silent, stating, “May Allah dry up the arrangements of the liar! Your words set us ablaze. May the root of your oiled beard be plucked! If you had spoken of your poverty or shortcomings, perhaps a generous soul would have shown compassion. Or if you had simply refrained from these lies and deceptions, a physician might have treated your ailment.”
Allah said, “O crooked man, wag your ear, wag your tail; truthfulness benefits the truthful.” “O impure one, do not lie in a twisted cave. Show what you possess; be true, be upright. If you cannot speak of your faults, then remain silent—do not kill yourself with ostentation and deceit! When you acquire something, keep your mouth shut; there are testing stones on the path.”
Before those testing stones lie trials for one’s state; they are subjected to tests. Allah said, “We have tried them throughout their lives from birth until this moment.” My father says, “There are trials within trials. Gather yourself and do not sell yourself with a small trial!”
Babur, the son of Bel’am, and cursed Iblis were defeated in the final test. “That man also appeared to be powerful, but his stomach cursed his beard, saying, ‘O Lord, reveal this hidden one! He has burned us; expose him!’ His entire being was hostile to him. He spoke of spring, yet they were in the depths of winter.
The man spoke of generosity and grace, yet he severed the branch of compassion from its root. Either be truthful and show your truthfulness, or remain silent and attain mercy, then rejoice. The man’s stomach had become hostile to his beard, secretly raising its hands in prayer: “O Lord, disgrace this wretched one so that merciful people may show us mercy.”
The stomach’s prayer was answered. The yearning born of necessity manifested outwardly and became visible. Allah said, “Did you call Me? Even if you are a sinner or an idolater, I will answer you. Therefore, do not hesitate from supplication; do not tire. Supplication ultimately delivers you from the clutches of your base self.”
As the stomach entrusted itself to Allah, suddenly a cat came and snatched away the piece of tail. The household members pursued the cat, but it ran and escaped. My father’s rebuke caused my child’s complexion to pale. His father, while sitting with a gathering, recounted the incident. He reduced the worth of that man who earned his living through deceit to a mere trifle.
He said, “Wasn’t that piece of tail you oiled your beard with every morning? The cat came and took it away. We pursued it and ran for a while, but were unable to catch it!” Those present were astonished and laughed. They felt compassion for him, invited him, and fed him, planting the seed of mercy in his existence. He then tasted the pleasure of truthfulness from those who are noble and became devoted to truth.
That colorful jackal secretly appeared near the one who rebuked him and said, “Look at me! Even a shaman does not have an idol like this. How beautiful I have become, like a rose garden; how pleasingly I am painted in countless colors! Do not turn away from me; prostrate yourself before me! Behold my beauty, my splendor, my color—declare me the Pride of the World, the Pillar of Religion!”
“I have been graced with divine favor and have become a tablet revealing the secrets of nobility.” The jackals gathered around him, like moths to a flame. “Has there ever been such beauty in a jackal?” they asked. The jackal replied, “Say I am a male lion resembling a star.”
They said, “But peacocks frolic and play in rose gardens.” “Are you also frolicking like that?” The jackal responded, “How can I say I arrived at Mina without falling into the desert?” They asked, “Can you roar like a peacock?” He replied, “Does anything ever come from black stone?”
They said, “The beauty of a peacock’s attire comes from the heavens; it is eternal. Can you attain such beauty through deceit and trickery?”
Pharaoh also adorned his hair and beard, attempting to appear superior to Moses, striving to rise above him. He too was descended from the female jackal that fell into the painter’s bucket. He had fallen into a cup of power and wealth! Whoever beheld his position or wealth prostrated before him, and he embraced their foolish prostrations.
He became intoxicated by the prostration of the poor people who wore patched robes and were amazed at his wealth and possessions. Wealth is a serpent; it contains poisons. The people’s reverence for the owner of wealth is like a dragon. O Pharaoh, cease your boasting; you are a jackal attempting to claim peacockhood.
If you enter among peacocks, you will be humbled, unable to frolic like them; you will be exposed as a fraud. Moses and Aaron were like peacocks. They frolicked and displayed themselves before him, bringing about his ruin. Your ugliness was revealed, and you fell into disgrace! You plummeted from greatness to baseness.
When he saw the touchstone, his heart turned black as pitch. O leprous, ugly dog, do not don a lion’s skin out of envy and spite. The lion roars and tests you. Then it will become apparent that you have the appearance of a lion but possess the characteristics of dogs.
Allah said to the Prophet in the perfection of His speech: “The easiest and most visible sign by which to recognize hypocrites is this: Even though a hypocrite may be large, fearsome, and outwardly brave, you recognize him by the tone of his voice and his words, just as you strike test tubes to know them. Why do you strike them? Because the sound of a cracked test tube is different. The voice is like a herald, it goes ahead.” The voice reveals what that thing is, recounts its circumstances, and pours it out. The voice is like a container, and the action performs the verb! When I remembered the story of Harut and Marut regarding testing words,