{"id":35,"date":"2014-05-04T01:13:49","date_gmt":"2014-05-04T05:13:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/?p=35"},"modified":"2014-05-04T01:17:05","modified_gmt":"2014-05-04T05:17:05","slug":"nasrudin-and-the-christian-week-11","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/2014\/05\/04\/nasrudin-and-the-christian-week-11\/","title":{"rendered":"(Nasrudin and the Christian)\u00a0 Week 11"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"imgres\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0 Beyond their value in entertainment, stories provide wonderfully comprehensible perspectives at the most confounding aspects of human behavior.\u00a0 In factthey are even mentioned in the Qur\u2019an: \u201cSo relate the Stories; Perchance they may reflect\u201d(6: 176)(Tales of Nasrudin, Ali Jamnia, p.4).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Although his stories were never related by any great sufi masters, Nasrudin and his stories have resonated throughout the world, and particularly in Turkey and throughout the Middle East (Jamnia, p.4).\u00a0 Mulla Nasrudin is an extremely simple character (though the title implies he was a religious scholar) who often appears in humorous situations that, through their oddity, often bring out some wisdom that is difficult to explicitly state. \u00a0 Nasrudin stories have become very popular among the common man.\u00a0 They are typically composed of a short, pithy, often humorous story, and a key to the story, composed of a moral and a little extra nugget of wisdom.\u00a0 As such a popular media based in an old tradition, I saw these stories as a means of expressing views on society, much like Muhammad Iqbal\u2019s famous poems, \u201cThe Complaint\u201d and \u201cThe Answer.\u201d\u00a0 I sought to embody a personal sentiment about many of the reform movements in Islamic states.\u00a0 I found my inspiration in the following two stories:<\/p>\n

Story 1 : Take Refuge in God<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of the rulers asked Mulla Nasrudin ,\u201dAt the time of the Abbasid Caliphs, it was customary for rulers to be given titles which ended with the suffix \u2013God<\/em>.\u00a0 For example, there were titles like \u2018who was successful by God,\u2019 of \u2018trusted in God,\u2019 or \u2018took help from God.\u2019\u00a0 What title should people say when they see me?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best thing to say,\u201d expounded Mulla, is \u201c \u2018I take refuge in God\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

KEY<\/strong><\/p>\n

Polititians are like this.\u00a0 They occationally need to be reminded that their actions do in fact impact real people in real situations.\u00a0 Nasrudin seems to be saying that it is best that people avoid contact with officials\u2026 a wisdom that still offers much today.<\/p>\n

It is the true mark of the tyrant that other people are not real to him: he is \u2018the only game in town.\u2019\u00a0 In this case the tyrant is the lower self.\u00a0 When the self is challenged by the presence of God, its last trick may be for it to claim to be <\/em>God. To say \u201cI take refuge in God\u201d is to deny the lower self this refuge. ( Jamnia, p.107)<\/p>\n

Story 2 : A Conversation with a Christion<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Christian man was eating meat during the period of lent which was an illicit act according to his creed.\u00a0 Nasrudin saw what he was doing and went over to share some of the food.\u00a0 The Christian rebuffed him by saying, \u201cWhat do you mean Mulla?\u201d\u00a0 Christian meat is illicit for you Muslims!\u201d<\/p>\n

Nasrudin instantly replied, \u201cI am among the Muslims as you are among Christians.\u201d<\/p>\n

KEY<\/strong><\/p>\n

There is an old folklore saying, \u201cDrop a dog in rose water and it\u2019s still a dog.\u201d\u00a0 So too, a hypocrite is what he (or she) is regardless of their confessed beliefs.\u00a0 And how often do we find ourselves worrying about someone else\u2019s impurity of heart so as to avoid looking at our own?\u00a0 On the other hand, those who understand the \u2018meat\u2019 of religion will not be separated by rite and creed, however important and necessary these may be on their own level. ( Jamnia, p.64)<\/p>\n

\u00a0 In my own, I attempt to address a particular type of the \u201cback to fundamentals\u201d reform movement, by having Nasrudin direcly reflects the Egyptian thinker Tahtawi and his famous quote \u201cWhen I was in Europe, I saw much Islam everywhere but I saw very few Muslims; now I am back in Egypt, I see many Muslims but little Islam.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0It also addresses the idea of \u201cIslam as progress,\u201d as pioneered by Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan.\u00a0 Both of these thinkers took the radical stance that there was nothing in conflict between the Western thought and Islamic thought. \u00a0\u00a0Though I tried to bring to light a more subtle understanding of progress:<\/p>\n

\u00a0Nasrudin and the devout Christian<\/strong><\/p>\n

One day, one of Nasrudin\u2019s friends brought him to a city saying, \u201cThis is the most devout Islamic city in all the land.\u00a0 All the men are bearded and have memorized the Qur\u2019an back to front, and all the women are covered head to toe.\u201d\u00a0 While they were going, Nasrudin fell asleep, as his friend had been very longwinded in his praise of the city and it\u2019s people.\u00a0 When they finally arrived, they promptly woke Nasrudin, but he refused to dismount, saying, \u201cI see all of the muslims, but where is the Islam in the city?\u00a0 My friend told me that our destination was the most devout Islamic city, yet I see no devout Islam, thus I must still be dreaming.\u00a0 Let me continue on our journey, so that I may wake up.\u201d<\/p>\n

When his friends saw they could not convince him, they journeyed on, hoping he would soon come to his senses.\u00a0 When they stopped in the western part of town, where people were less concerned with religion, Nasrudin once more awoke, and this time he said, \u201cnow I see no muslims, but more Islam.\u00a0 But the people are not the most devout, so I am still dreaming.\u00a0 Let us continue.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finally, while they were traveling on, they passed the poorest part of town.\u00a0 There, they saw an old, bent Christian clothe and feed a beggar.\u00a0 At this, Nasrudin immediately woke up and jumped down saying \u201cWe have arrived!\u201d\u00a0 His companions said, \u201csurely you are sleepwalking!\u201d\u00a0 To which he responded, \u201cI cannot know, but this man has woken my heart, so I trust in God that I am truly awake.\u201d<\/p>\n

KEY<\/strong><\/p>\n

We often forget that outward rituals and practice are no substitute for inner practice of Islam.\u00a0 No matter how much one resembles the prophet, or how much one heaps on \u201cmodest\u201d clothing, the truly important is one\u2019s inner submission.\u00a0 The hypocracy can be a barrier to true progress.<\/p>\n

However, without this external practice, we can often lose our way, or never start on our path at all.\u00a0 It may allow for worldly progress, but internal progress may be left by the wayside.\u00a0 In his immediate recognition of this characteristic in this man outside of Islam, Nasrudin seems to be saying that a state of Internal well-being and its progress is more important than both external devotion and outward progress, and is the sign of true devotion.<\/p>\n

The final exchange is more subtle.\u00a0 In this Nasrudin seems to be implyingthat he does not know the difference between sleeping and waking, symbols used frequently to denote life and death.\u00a0\u00a0 But as his \u201cheart\u201d has been awoken, he can see with his \u201ceye of the heart\u201d and perceives clearly the truth of the situation, a power that is only possible through God.<\/p>\n

\u00a0 \"images\"<\/p>\n

While the actual historical figure of Nasrudin is still a subject of heated debate, scholars do seem to agree that a similar figure existed in 13th<\/sup> century Aksehir in Turkey.\u00a0 A celebration in honor of his life is celebrated every year near his supposed tomb:\u00a0 the \u201cInternational Nasreddin Hodja Festival.<\/em>\u201d\u00a0 For more information on the historical Nasrudin, see any of the works of Professor Mikail Bayram, who has made his life\u2019s work the uncovering of this character\u2019s hidden past.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0 Beyond their value in entertainment, stories provide wonderfully comprehensible perspectives at the most confounding aspects of human behavior.\u00a0 In factthey are even mentioned in the Qur\u2019an: \u201cSo relate the Stories; Perchance they may reflect\u201d(6: 176)(Tales of Nasrudin, Ali Jamnia, p.4).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Although his stories were never related by any great sufi masters, Nasrudin and his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6297,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-35","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6297"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35\/revisions\/41"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/olumakindeislamicart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}