Story No. 15

Iraqi style
English

Story No. 15

A king once met a devout ascetic. He asked, 'Do you ever think of me?' The man replied, 'Yes, whenever I forget God.' Whoever God drives from His presence runs in every direction searching; but whoever God calls to Himself need never run to anyone else's door.
Explanation: The ascetic's answer is a pointed rebuke: he remembers the king only in moments of forgetting God, that is, in moments of failure.

Original · Persian

حکایت شمارهٔ ۱۵

پادشاهی پارسایی را دید.
گفت: هیچت از ما یاد آید؟
گفت: بلی! وقتی که خدا را فراموش می‌کنم.
هر سو دَوَد آن کَش ز برِ خویش براند وآن را که بخواند به درِ کس ندواند