EXCUSES OF THE FIFTH BIRD

Another bird said to the Hoopoe; ‘I am my own enemy; there is a thief in me. How can I make this journey hindered by bodily appetites and a dog of desire, which will not submit? How can I save my soul? The prowling wolf I know but this dog I do not know, and he is so attractive. I know not where I am with this unfaithful body. Will I never understand it?

The Hoopoe replied: ‘You yourself are a stray dog, trampled underfoot. This “soul” of yours is one-eyed and squinting; vile, slothful and unfaithful. If a man is drawn to you it is because he is dazzled by the tinsel glitter of your “soul”. It is not good for this dog of desire to be pampered and rubbed with oils. As a child, man is weak and heedless; as a youth he is engaged in struggle; and when old age takes possession desire languishes and the body is feeble. Existence being such how will this dog acquire the ornament of spiritual qualities? From beginning to end we live heedlessly and obtain nothing. Often a man comes to the end empty, with nothing in him except a desire for the things of exterior life. Thousands perish from grief, but this dog of desire never dies.

STORY OF A GRAVEDIGGER

Listen to the story of a gravedigger who had grown old in his trade. Someone asked him: “Will you answer a question for me since you have spent your whole life digging graves. Tell if you have ever seen a marvel?” He said: “My dog of desire has seen the dead buried for seventy years, but he himself has not once died, nor for a single moment has he obeyed the laws of God. Thus is a marvel”

The Conference of the Birds

FARID-UD- DIN ATTAR

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No self can die except with Allah’s permission, at a predetermined time. If anyone desires the reward of this world, We will give him some of it. If anyone desires the reward of the hereafter, We will give him some of it. We will recompense the thankful. (3:145)

Every self will taste death. You will be paid your wages in full on the Day of Rising. Anyone who is distanced from the Fire and admitted to the Garden has triumphed. The life of this world is just the enjoyment of delusion. (3:185)