Feb. 19 Sunrise Mount Rainier, Washington (can see down street here)
"TRUST IN ALLAH,
BUT TETHER YOUR CAMEL FIRST."
This saying comes
from a small story:
A MASTER WAS TRAVELING with one of his disciples. The disciple was
in charge of taking care of the camel. They came in the night, tired, to a
caravanserai. It was the disciple's duty to tether the camel; he didn't bother
about it, he left the camel outside. Instead of that he simply prayed. He said
to God, "Take care of the camel," and fell asleep.
In the morning
the camel was gone -- stolen or moved away, or whatsoever happened.. The Master
asked, "What happened to the camel? Where is the camel?"
And the disciple
said, "I don't know. You ask God, because I had told Allah to take care of the
camel, and I was too tired, so I don't know. And I am not responsible either,
because I had told him, and very clearly! There was no missing the point. Not
only once in fact, I told him thrice. And you go on teaching 'Trust Allah', so
I
trusted. Now don't look at me with anger."
The Master said,
"Trust in Allah but tether your camel first -- because Allah has no
other hands than yours."
If he wants to
tether the camel he will have to use somebody's hands; he has no other hands.
And it is your camel! The best way and the easiest and the shortest, the most
short, is to use your hands. Trust Allah. Don't trust only your hands,
otherwise
you will become tense. Tether the camel and then trust Allah.You will ask,
"Then
why trust Allah if you are tethering the camel?" -- because a tethered camel
can
also be stolen. YOU DO WHATSOEVER YOU CAN DO: that does not make the result
certain, there is no guarantee. So you do whatsoever you can, and
then whatsoever happens, accept it. This is the meaning of tether the camel: do
whatever is possible for you to do, don't shirk your responsibility, and then
if
nothing happens or something goes wrong, trust Allah. Then he knows best. Then
maybe it is right for us to travel without the camel.
THE RELIGIOUS
PERSON IS ONE who goes on doing whatsoever is humanly possible but creates no
tension because of it. Because we are very, very tiny, small atoms in this
universe, things are very complicated. Nothing depends only on my action; there
are thousands of criss-crossing energies. The total of the energies will decide
the outcome. How can I decide the outcome? But if I don't do anything then
things may never be the same.
I HAVE TO DO, AND
YET I HAVE TO LEARN NOT TO EXPECT. Then doing is a kind of prayer, with no
desire that the result should be such. Then there is no frustration. Trust
will help you to remain unfrustrated. and tethering the camel will help
you to remain alive, intensely alive. And the camel is not a fixed
entity; it is not the name of a certain entity. It will depend on the
context.
Daffy Duck
