The day that he reached this decision he did not go to the Mosque, but stopped at home, in his father's house, and sat staring at the fire burning in the grate. Several times the father asked:
"My son, what do you see in the fire?"
And each time the son answered:
"Nothing, father."
He was very young; he could not see.
Finally, the young man picked up courage and gave expression to his thoughts.
"Father," he said, "I wish to become a great man."
"That is very easy," said the father.
"And to be a great man," continued the son, "I must first go to Mecca." For no Mohammedan priest or theologian, or even layman, has fulfilled all of the cardinal precepts of his faith unless he has made the pilgrimage to the Holy City.
To his son's last observation the father blandly replied: "It is very easy to go to Mecca."