When the sage Ibn Abbas (whose name is blessed among those

who know) was writing the history of the deplorable exploits of Abu Niad as they had happened in Samarkand one hundred years ago, he was suddenly notified that the Grand Visier of the Emir of his City was a descendant of the said Abu Niad. Whereupon the Sage left 10 empty pages in his book, writing "Safety First" on each. And proceeded to describe the exploits of another illustrious warrior, whose ancestors lived a comfortable distance from his City.

(my (mangled) translation of a story from "The Adventures of Hodja Nasreddin" by Soloviev (and if you see references to the movie on the internet - skip it. The book is infinitely better, especially the second part. The movie is utter crap - what can you expect from 1934?))

[link|http://www.khamush.com/sufism/nasrudin.htm| Mulla Nasrudin] perhaps?

(Hakim Sanai, The Walled Garden of Truth)

The Legend of Nasrudin, appended to the Subtleties and dating from at least the thirteenth century, touches on some of the reasons for introducing Nasrudin. Humor cannot be prevented from spreading; it has a way of slipping through the patterns of thought which are imposed upon mankind by habit and design. As a complete system of thought, Nasrudin exists at so many depths that he cannot be killed. Some measure of the truth of this might be seen in the fact that such diverse and alien organizations as the British Society of the Promotion of Christian Knowledge and the Soviet Government have both pressed Nasrudin into service. The S.P.C.K. published a few of the stories as Tales of the Khoja; while (perhaps on the principle of 'If you cannot beat them, join them') the Russians made a film of Nasrudin under the name of The Adventures of Nasrudin. Even the Greeks, who accepted few other things from the Turks, consider him a part of their cultural heritage. Secular Turkey, through its information department, has published a selection o the metaphysical jokes attributed to this supposed Moslem preacher who is the archetype of the Sufi mystic. And yet the dervish Orders were suppressed by law in republican Turkey.

Sufi stories.. the most likely source for many of JC's parables -- are never very far from the mouthings of daily politico- religio- factotums of any jour. Indries Shaw has collected volumes of their 'sayings' (but plagiarizers through the ages never give attributions, we see.)

There really is nothing New under the Sun, 'The Son' (or the Sunni).

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