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- The Snake Charmer Who Loses His Snake - 115
The Snake Charmer Who Loses His Snake - 115
A story from Mawlana Rumi's Masnavi about the duas we make...
Est. Read time: 2 min
Edition Number: 115
Adapted from: From Mawlana to Rumi: A Journey to the Heart
Instructor: Ustadh Feraidoon Mojadedi
Assalamu Alaykum,
Today’s gem is from Ustadh Feraidoon Mojadedi’s class, From Mawlana to Rumi: A Journey to the Heart. In this gem, Ustadh Feraidoon shares a story from Mawlana Rumi’s Masnavi about a snake charmer who loses his snake.
Hope you enjoy!
We begin in the Name of Allah ﷻ, the Most Merciful and Compassionate,
We ask that He ﷻ sends Peace and Blessings upon our noble and beloved
Prophet Muhammad ﷺ
There's a story in the Masnavi of a snake charmer who makes money by showing a snake on the streets of Baghdad. Maulana Rumi says this man is popular—everyone comes to see his snake and gives him money. One day, he goes out to lunch and comes back to find someone has stolen his snake.
He says, "Oh my God, Ya Allah, I want my snake! This is my bread and butter. I need to get my snake back." He searches everywhere trying to find his snake. He says, “Ya Allah, I have one dua: show me this man. He took food from my wife and children away. This is my job. I want to find him and take my snake back from him.“
He just kept making this dua to see the person who stole his snake.
Finally, as he's walking through the streets of Baghdad, he sees a man lying dead, turned blue.
He said, “Oh my God, my snake did this. I didn’t know it was a poisonous snake.”
Then he goes, “Ya Allah, I thank you for not listening to my dua and rejecting my dua. I thought it was for my benefit, but I didn't know it was poisonous and would harm me."
Rumi ends the story beautifully, explaining that many of the duas we ask for are like poisonous snakes. Out of His generosity, Allah ﷻ refuses to grant them because they would harm us.
May Allah ﷻ protect us from harm.
أقول قولي هذا وأستغفر الله لي ولكم، فاستغفروه إنه هو الغفور الرحيم
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