By Imam Jamal Rahman
“Confound not Truth with Falsehood.” ~Qur’an 2:42
“There is Truth and there is Truth of Convenience.” ~Sufi Saying
One day the Mulla knocked on his neighbor’s door and asked to borrow a large pot to prepare food for a large celebration. The neighbor was reluctant to let go of her prized pot, but the unspoken laws of hospitality obliged her to do so. The next day the Mulla returned with two pots : the large one and a smaller one. “Where did the smaller one come from?” asked the housewife. “Madam,” said the Mulla, “your pot gave birth to this little one. Didn’t you know your pot was pregnant?”
“Oh, well,” she replied quickly, “I suspected as much!” and she thanked him profusely.
A few months later the Mulla wanted to borrow the large pot again, and this time the housewife readily acceded. But in the next few days the Mulla did not return the pot, so she went to his house to collect it. “I’m so sorry, Madam,” the Mulla explained with much sadness in his voice, “but your pot was pregnant again, and this time she died in childbirth.”
“That’s ridiculous!” retorted the housewife. “How can a pot possibly be pregnant?” “Ah, but Madam,” replied the Mulla, “you believed me the first time that the pot was pregnant. So we did establish that pots are mortal. Surely, unexpected deaths are tragic, but not uncommon.”