Friday 5 June 2009

The Caterpillar And The Grapes

In a speech, Maulana Hakeem Akhtar, who is a Shaykh belonging to Maulana Thanvi's chain, describes a story in the mathnawi of Maulana Rumi.

He tells us about a caterpillar who is told by the other caterpillars about the delicious fruit of the grape vine. He sets off to find these grapes and climbs onto the vine and on the way he sees lush green leaves. Seeing their dazzle, he starts thinking that these are the fabled grapes and settles on one to eat. Beguiled, he decides these are the grapes and sits there all his life, munching away on the leaf believing it to be his aim.

The observers, however, know what a fool he had been in getting attracted by the green colour of the inferior leaf and forgetting about the real prize - the delicious grapes.One look at our own lives reveals us to be like that caterpillar, getting caught up in the glitter of this world, and totally forgetting to journey on towards the fruit of Allah's pleasure.

Taken from Beneath the shade

3 comments:

galaqah said...

nice post masha Allah. could you possible add two features to the blog? search and topics.

Anonymous said...

brother i think the talk should be on searching for knowledge and being with pious people

Anonymous said...

Asalaamau alikum, brother could you also make a point of mentioning something along the lines of friendship with the opposite sex, freemixing etc...
Jazakallah