Wise tales from Muslim sources

A very short story about really “seeing” and what we could see if we chose to really look.

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Folklore of the Holy Land: Moslem, Christian and Jewish , page xxi

The post Episode 15: What You Choose to See appeared first on Ziyadliwa, Storyteller.

The Arab version of “G-d helps those who help themselves”

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This is a tale based on an Arab proverb, “Trust in God by tie your camel”. It is one of the reported sayings of the Prophet Muhammed, compiled by the 9th-century scholar “Tirmidhi“. A

nother tale that mentions this proverb is found in the story of the Lion and the Beasts in Tales from Masnavi by Rumi a 13th-century Persian Sunni Muslim poet, dervish, jurist, Islamic scholar, theologian, and Sufi mystic who we met in episode 8.

The post Episode 14: Trust G-d But Tie Your Camel appeared first on Ziyadliwa, Storyteller.

Planning for the future vs living in the moment: a buttery tale of woe!

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The Book of the Thousand Nights and a Night, translated by Richard F. Burton, vol. 9 (Benares: Printed by the Kamashastra Society for private subscribers only, 1885), pp. 40-41.

The post Episode 13: What butter buys appeared first on Ziyadliwa, Storyteller.

Hadji’s wife has a problem with her husband’s roving eye… But she’s a clever woman and manages to outwit him!

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This is an adaptation of a wonderful story collected by Cyrus Adler and Allan Ramsay in Told in the Coffee House: Turkish Tales.

The post Episode 12: The Charms of a Clever Wife appeared first on Ziyadliwa, Storyteller.

Avicenna has a plan to rid a city of it’s mouse population, but the king can’t hold his tongue…

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This is my adaptation of a Syrian tale found in the English translation of Sheykh-Zada’s “The History of Forty Vezirs”. Avicenna was a Persian polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, thinkers and writers of the Islamic Golden Age. He has been described as the father of early modern medicine.*

Sheykh-Zada, “The Lady’s Twenty-Eighth Story,” The History of the Forty Vezirs; or, The Story of the Forty Morns and Eves, translated by E. J. W. Gibb (London: George Redway, 1886), pp. 300-302.

The post Episode 11: Repentance Too Late appeared first on Ziyadliwa, Storyteller.

Is it better to be sane and live amongst mad people, or to be mad and fit in with the crowd? You decide.

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This story comes up time and again as a traditional Sufi tale, but it also has elements in common with those in Kahlil Gibran’s “The Wise King”. This is my version, crafted from a variety of sources.

Khalil Gibran was a Lebanese writer, poet, and visual artist, born into a Catholic family and was influenced not only by his own religion but also by Islam. In Muslim tradition, al-Khiḍr is widely known as the spiritual guide of Moses and Alexander the Great, a wali(saint), a prophet, and one of four immortals along with Enoch (Idris), Jesus, and Elijah. Khiḍr is associated with the Water of Life, which makes his appearance in this tale very appropriate indeed.

The post Episode 10: Sanity and Madness appeared first on Ziyadliwa, Storyteller.

How many Sufis does it take to silence a drum?

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This is my adaptation of a traditional Sufi tale, different versions of which can be found in many collections. This story is adapted from a version told by Idries Shah in a talk given in April 1978 called “Human Nature.”

The post Episode 9: The Drum appeared first on Ziyadliwa, Storyteller.

What is a wasted life?

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From “The Mathnawî-yé Ma`nawî” [Rhymed Couplets of Deep Spiritual Meaning] of Jalaluddin Rumi.

Translated from the Persian by Ibrahim Gamard (with gratitude for R. A. Nicholson’s 1926 British translation) © Ibrahim Gamard (translation, footnotes, & transliteration)

The post Episode 8: The Grammarian and the Boatman appeared first on Ziyadliwa, Storyteller.

Another fun Nasreddin tale.

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Folklore of the Holy Land: Moslem, Christian and Jewish , page 87

The post Episode 7: The Death of a Cauldron appeared first on Ziyadliwa, Storyteller.

A tale about sharing a message.

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This story is attributed to Bayazid Bastami, a Persian Sufi who lived in the 9th century CE. This version of the story comes from a post by OSHO.

The post Episode 6: A Heap of Skulls appeared first on Ziyadliwa, Storyteller.