Sufi Parables
1. The Mirror
A man once came to a Sufi and said,
“I want to see reality.”
The Sufi handed him a mirror.
The man looked into it.
“But this is just my own face!” he exclaimed.
The Sufi said,
“Correct. The first thing you see is always yourself.
But keep looking.
If you can bear your own face,
you might begin to see what lies behind it.”
2. The Lion Who Saw Himself in the Water
There was once a lion who lived in a windy desert.
Because of the constant wind,
the water he drank from was never still
and never reflected anything.
One day he wandered into a forest.
After hunting and playing,
he grew tired and thirsty.
He found a pool of calm, clear water.
As he leaned down to drink,
he saw his reflection
and believed another lion was there.
“Oh dear,” he thought,
“this must be another lion’s water.”
He retreated,
but thirst drove him back again.
Each time he saw the same fierce lion.
At last, desperate with thirst,
he said to himself,
“Lion or no lion,
I am going to drink.”
The moment he plunged his face into the water,
the ‘other lion’ disappeared.
3. The Sermon of Mulla Nasrudin
Nasrudin was invited to deliver a sermon.
He climbed into the pulpit and asked,
“Do you know what I am going to say?”
The audience replied,
“No.”
He said,
“I have no desire to speak to people
who don’t even know what I will be talking about!”
— and left.
They invited him again the next day.
He asked the same question.
This time they replied,
“Yes.”
Nasrudin said,
“Since you already know what I am going to say,
I won’t waste your time!”
— and left again.
Confused,
they invited him a third time.
Again he asked,
“Do you know what I am going to say?”
Half answered “Yes,”
half answered “No.”
Nasrudin replied,
“Let the half who know
tell it to the half who don’t.”
— and left once more.
4. Nasrudin and the Rumor
One day Nasrudin was walking through the bazaar
when a man stopped him.
“Mulla,” he said,
“I heard that you were dead.”
“You can see that I am alive,”
replied Nasrudin.
“Yes,” said the man,
“but the person who told me
is much more reliable than you.”
5. The Tale of the Sands
A stream flowing from distant mountains
reached the sands of a desert.
As it tried to cross,
its waters disappeared into the sand.
A hidden voice whispered,
“The wind crosses the desert,
and so can you.”
“But the wind can fly,”
said the stream.
“I cannot.”
“You must let yourself be absorbed,”
said the voice.
The stream feared losing its identity.
“How will I remain myself?”
“The wind carries water
and returns it as rain,”
said the sand.
“You become a stream again.”
Finally,
the stream surrendered.
It rose as vapor,
traveled with the wind,
and fell again as rain.
Reflecting on the journey,
it realized:
“Now I know my true identity.”
6. The Wall
A man went to a Sufi teacher and said,
“I want to learn,
but I do not wish to be confused.”
The teacher replied,
“Go away.
You have no place here.”
The man protested,
“But I only want to know!”
The teacher said,
“A man who wants to learn
but not be confused
is like someone who wants to build a house
without disturbing the ground.
You want to build walls on walls.
I demolish walls.”
7. The Waters of Madness
Khidr once warned,
“A time will come
when all the water in the world
will be replaced
by water that drives men mad.”
The day came.
People drank the new water
and became insane —
yet believed themselves sane.
Those who kept the old water
were mocked as mad.
One man had stored the old water
and drank only from it.
But he was isolated and alone.
Unable to bear the loneliness,
he finally drank the new water.
At once he forgot everything.
And the people rejoiced,
for now he was sane like them.
8. The Fire and the Clay
A dervish asked his teacher,
“What is transformation?”
The teacher said,
“Go to the potter’s house.”
He saw wet clay shaped on a wheel
into a vessel.
Then it was placed in a kiln.
He returned and said,
“The clay becomes a pot.”
The teacher asked,
“And the fire?”
“It made the pot strong,”
said the dervish.
The teacher replied,
“Without fire,
the pot collapses.
Without shaping hands,
fire destroys it.
First surrender,
then the flame.”
9. Nasrudin and the Lost Donkey
One day Nasrudin’s donkey went missing.
Villagers saw him wandering happily,
shouting,
“Thank God!
Praise be to the Almighty!”
They asked,
“Why are you happy?
You’ve lost your donkey!”
Nasrudin replied,
“Yes —
but I wasn’t on it
when it got lost!”