Page 181 - The Book of Rumi

Fear of Hunger

ufi shaykhs, as a teaching method, would travel and take their murids, or
Sstudents, with them, believing that traveling provided the best possible
education. On one such trip, a shaykh and his murid were approaching a town
that had fallen on hard times, ravaged by famine. The murid was young and
inexperienced and had never faced a day of hunger in his life; therefore, he was
apprehensive and focused only on the hardship that awaited him.
The shaykh was an experienced Sufi who had many years of practice in
abstinence, so hunger and deprivation were hardly issues for him. Long ago
he had overcome sensual attractions, and he was not going to allow thoughts
of food to pollute his mind at this point in his life. Having a clear and pure
mind, the shaykh could easily read his murid’s obsessive thoughts and feel his
fear of hunger.
When the murid was completely overwhelmed by fear and could no lon-
ger walk in a straight line, the shaykh turned to him and said: “I understand
that the worry for bread has extinguished all your patience. You have given up
on God and no longer believe that He will look after you!” he lamented. “But
you must realize, to be hungry is to be one of God’s special servants! Hunger
is exclusive to God’s favorites, and only they can experience it. You, my dear,
don’t belong to that special group, so rest assured that you shall never suffer
for lack of food. God will make sure that there’s always plenty to feed those
who love their own stomachs, so don’t trouble yourself worrying about your
next meal!”
Having said his piece, the shaykh looked with pity at his murid, shook
his head sadly, and continued to walk toward the famine-stricken town, won-
dering all the while whether his words had made any sense to the young man.

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