Weapons

 

'Hakim al-Mansuri’ was a great sage of Balkh, in Central Asia. He had thousands of disciples, and his mere presence at the courts of kings was regarded as conferring legitimacy upon their rule.

But he very seldom spoke. When he did, it was about matters which did not seem to be connected with spiritual concerns. And yet many great masters of the Sufi Way attribute their attainments to having sat at his table, or from being in his guest-house, or even from associating with the other disciples, or working in his house.

One day, the Hakim was challenged by a famous preacher to dispute with him on matters of philosophy. The preacher claimed that ‘Al-Mansuri’ knew nothing about wisdom, and spoke very little on weighty matters because he was ignorant of them.

‘Al-Mansuri’  set  out  for  Herat,  where  the  challenger,  ‘Qari Mukhtar’, taught at a famous college. Each of the disputants was attended by hundreds of students, who had assembled, together with a multitude of townsfolk, to witness the duel of these giants.

The ‘Qari’ -  as the challenger -  began his tirade with a carefully thought-out sentence, obviously preparing to launch a full-scale attack. Then, suddenly, after less than a minute, the ‘Hakim’ stood up  and pointed his  finger  at the  ‘Qari’,  who  stood  like  stone, abruptly ceasing to speak. Then he fled from the hall.

On the way home, one of the disciples said to his master, who had been cheered to the echo by the delighted audience: 'Why did you choose to throw paralysis upon that man, instead of refuting his arguments?’

The Hakim answered: 'If you have a sword in your hand, do you charge the opponent with mud bricks? Even a monkey would not chatter if it could do something more effective. That man wanted to defeat me, not to discover truth.’