Nowa mulla is an interesting job. A mulla is a teacher, a preacher,
and a judge. I studied the Q'uran, andbecame quite familiar with the
Sharia, the traditional Islamic laws, and began my time as a mulla in
a little village in a far corner of the country.
Now a mulla is considered a wise man, and for some reason,
thevillagers considered me one. They would ask me questions concerning
aspects of their lives in which I was not expert at all.
"Oh, Mulla Nasruddin, please tell me what I should do about my daughter!"
"I'm sorry, sister, but youmust work that out for yourself. I don't
have a daughter, so I cannot tellyou anything useful."
"Mulla Nasruddin! My business is in terrible trouble! What should I do?"
"Brother,you see I don't have a business, so I cannot tell you anything useful."
"But you are such a wise man, Mulla Nasruddin! Please help me, please!"
"All right, here's what you should do..."
"Yes? Yes?" the man asked eagerly.
"Pray to Allah for wisdom."
He was not so happy with this answer. I think he had already tried
thatand found that Allah no matter how much wisdom Allah provided, he
would not be able to do much with it himself.
Finally the situation got completely out of hand. People began to
pester me with questions night and day. I was sleeping in the
starlight on my roof, and a pebble hit me on the forehead. On
reflection, it was more of a stone than a pebble.I feared it might
have done permanent damage. I looked over the edge, and there in the
street was a man looking up. "Mulla Nasruddin, are you asleep?"
"I find it hard to sleep when stones are falling from Heaven," I said.
"It was only a little pebble, Mulla, besides, I have a question."
"Brother, it is the middleof the night!"
"My question is very important, or I would not have disturbed you.
Please come down and we can discuss it."
"Just give me the gist of it, and I'll ponder it on my way down."
"I need to know, Mulla Nasruddin, should I tell aprospective buyer
that my donkey is sick?"
"I don't need to come down for that one. Of course you should! Honesty
is required of you. And as it is also required of me, I tell
youhonestly that question could have waited till morning; go home!"
So it was, day and night, I couldn't even brush my teeth without being
interrupted with questions. I brandished my miswak , my tooth-brushing
twig, but somehow no one was frightened.
Finally I hit upon a solution. Beside my doorI put a sign that said in
large letters, "Two questions for $100."
Peace at last! Days went by with no questions; it was lovely. But
finally a rich man came to my door with a bag of gold hanging from his
belt.
"Nasruddin!" he called out. I came to the door."May I help you?"
"You are fortunate today," he said. "I have plenty of money."
"You are the fortunate one,"I replied.
"I can afford your two questions," he said, and raised one eyebrow. I
have always wished I could do that.
"So we are both fortunate," I said .
"Indeed," the man said."But, don't you think one hundred dollars is a
little expensive for just two questions?"
"Yes it is," I replied. "Andwhat is your second question?"
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And Allah Knows the Best!
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Published by :->
M NajimudeeN Bsc- INDIA
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