A young novice darvish had heard unending praise about the renowned shaykh Abol-Hassan of Kharaghan, and he could not wait to meet him. One day, he decided to take the long journey to the eastern province to fulfill his enduring wish. The journey was arduous, and it took him weeks to reach his destination. As soon as he arrived, he began to inquire about the shaykh's residence, and after hours of searching in the town's back alleys, he found the house at last. His heart was brimming with excitement and hope as he timidly knocked on the door, waiting patiently for it to open.
“Who's there?” came the sound of a woman's voice.
“Hello; I've come to pay my respects to the revered shaykh, ma'am. I've come all the way from Taleghan,” he whimpered.
“What an idiot! You've endured such a grueling journey to this godforsaken town, and for what? Didn't you have anything better to do?” barked the woman. “What useless thoughts did you entertain in your empty head? Or perhaps it's the devil who's sent you here?”
There was no end to the woman's bickering. She went on and on, ridiculing and bad-mouthing the shaykh himself, trying her best to kill every hope in the young man's heart.
“Despite all, ma'am, can you please tell me where I can find the shaykh?” implored the murid, tears welling up in his eyes.
“So you're really looking for that charlatan, who plants lies in fools' hearts and ensnares them? He's trapped thousands of idiots like you already. You're better off never seeing him and going back home unharmed. Beware, he's a real charmer,” she warned him. “A sorcerer must have tricked you into seeking out this goat who resembles a man, and you and everyone else like you worship him like buffoons. Stop caressing his ego; don't encourage him further. Go on and get out of here now.”
The young Sufi couldn't believe his ears. He simply decided that the woman must be mad and that he need no longer bother with her incriminating description of his beloved spiritual master. He carefully backed out of the woman's view and decided to ask others about the shaykh's whereabouts.
But before he left, he couldn't help saying to the woman, whom he finally understood to be the shaykh's wife: “The light of your husband has reached East and West, yet you have no share of it. I will not return home because of your malicious words, and I will not give up my search for the shaykh. There are many bats like you who wish to smother the light of God, but I shall not fall for your false words. Farewell, and may God save your pitiful soul!”
Having vented some of his anger, the murid began asking everyone he came by for the shaykh's whereabouts. It took a while, but in the end one person was able to direct him to a nearby forest, where the shaykh was apparently gathering firewood. The young man hurried toward the woodland outside town while wondering why on earth the shaykh had married and remained married to such a vampire of a woman. He was baffled that two such opposite poles of the spectrum could live compatibly with each other.
However, he quickly extinguished this train of thought, as he felt that he was beginning to doubt the great man without knowing the full story. As he thus reasoned with himself, he suddenly saw an elderly man comfortably sitting on top of a heap of firewood that was in turn stacked on the back of a lion, using a huge snake as a whip to control the beast.
“Be careful, young man, to not let your thoughts wander too far from the truth,” said the old man, having read the novice's mind.
By the time the shaykh reached the murid, he could construe exactly what had been exchanged between him and his wife, and he recounted the conversation to the young man, who listened in awe.
“I don't tolerate her behavior simply to satisfy my own ego,” said the shaykh. “Had I less patience, how could I have tamed a lion? I'm not merely half-conscious of God's will, nor do I allow myself to be influenced by what people say or think. My entire being is under the command of the Almighty, and I give up my life gladly for Him. I don't tolerate her and others like her for worldly reasons; I put up with them so others may see how magnanimous my God has made me!”
Giving himself up completely to the will of his revered shaykh, the young murid felt his heart expand with light as he knelt before the great man and his obedient lion.