{"collection":"Islam","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/mes/mes08.htm","path":"isl/mes/mes08.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/isl/mes/mes08.htm","text":"The Mesnavi and The Acts of the Adepts, by Jelal-'d-din Rumi and Shemsu-'d-Din Ahmed, tr. by James W. Redhouse, [1881]\nSheykh Sal\u0101hu-\u2019d-D\u012bn 1 Fer\u012bd\u016bn, surnamed Zer-K\u016bb (Goldbeater).\nSheykh Sal\u0101hu-\u2019d-D\u012bn was originally a fellow-disciple with Jel\u0101l, as pupils to Seyyid Burh\u0101nu-\u2019d-D\u012bn. He afterwards became a goldbeater, as his parents were poor.\nAfter a while, when Jel\u0101l's reputation became great, Sal\u0101h went and paid him his respects. Jel\u0101l knew how highly Burh\u0101n had esteemed Sal\u0101h, when his pupil. He therefore received him in a very friendly manner, and their intercourse became warmly renewed.\nOne day, after the murder of Shemsu-\u2019d-D\u012bn, and the return of Jel\u0101l from Damascus, he sent for Sal\u0101h, and appointed him his own assistant in the government and instruction of the disciples, presenting him also to the king in that capacity.\nJel\u0101l's first royal protector, \u2018Al\u0101\u2019u-\u2019d-D\u012bn Keyqub\u0101d, was now dead, and his son, Gay\u0101su-\u2019d-D\u012bn Key-Khusrev, reigned in his stead.\nThe monarch one day made a feast in the vineyards, and went forth into the fields for a walk, alone. He picked up a young snake, carried it indoors, placed it in a gold box, sealed this up, and then rejoined his courtiers.\nTo those attendants the king exhibited the sealed packet, as having just then been privately received from the Qaysar 2\nof Constantinople with a message to this effect: \"If your religion of Isl\u0101m be the true faith, some one of your wise men will be able to see into this packet without breaking its seals, and to tell what it contains.\"\nThe king then called upon his ministers to prove their loyalty to him, and their faithfulness to their religion, by solving this riddle. None of them was able.\nThe packet was now sent round in succession to all the eminent teachers and theologians of the city; but none could unravel the enigma.\nAt last it was brought to Jel\u0101l, as Sheykh Fer\u012bd\u016bn and he were sitting together. Jel\u0101l invited Fer\u012bd\u016bn to tell them the contents of the packet; and he immediately replied: \"It is not a dignified act in the king to imprison a young snake in a gold box, sealing this up as a packet, and then tempting his courtiers, ministers, and learned men with a false pretence. A saint, however, knows not only the solution of so paltry a trick as this, but is also aware of every thought in the king's heart, and every secret of earth and heaven.\"\nWhen this answer was reported to the king, he came to the college, and professed himself a disciple, remarking: \"If the disciples of Shemsu-\u2019d-D\u012bn possess such power, and work such miracles, how great must have been the sanctity of the murdered martyr.\"\nFer\u012bd\u016bn acted for ten years as assistant to Jel\u0101l.\nF\u0101tima, the daughter of Sheykh Sal\u0101hu-\u2019d-D\u012bn Fer\u012bd\u016bn, was married to Sultan Veled, Jel\u0101l's son. Jel\u0101l used to teach her to read the Qur\u2019\u0101n and other books.\nJel\u0101l used to call F\u0101tima his right eye; her sister Hediyya, his left eye; and their mother, Lat\u012bfa Kh\u0101t\u016bn, the personification of God's grace.\nWhen F\u0101tima's marriage was solemnised, all the angels of heaven were present, and wished the young couple all happiness.\nShe was a saint, and continually worked miracles. She fasted by day and watched by night, tasting food only once in three days. She was very charitable to the poor, the orphans, and the widows, distributing to them food and raiment.\nSheykh Fer\u012bd\u016bn died on New Year's Day, a.h. 657 (28th December, a.d. 1258).\n110:1 Saladin of European writings. The words mean: the Fitness of the Religion (of Isl\u0101m).\n110:2 The Muslim world knows but one Qaysar (C\u00e6sar), the Emperor of Rome (Old or New), which title is now borne by the Emperor of Austria.","title":"The Mesnavi and The Acts of the Adepts: The Acts of the A...","type":"page"}