O friend! be humble when thou dealest with a fierce foe, for gentleness will blunt the sharpest sword.
Story illustrating the Wisdom of Feigning Deafness
Many writers affirm the falsity of the idea that Hātim was deaf.
One morning his attention was attracted by the buzzing of a fly, which had become ensnared in a spider’s web. “O thou,” he observed, “who art fettered by thine own avarice, be patient. Wherever there be a tempting bait, huntsman and snare are close at hand.”
One of his disciples remarked: “Strange it is that thou couldst hear the buzzing of a fly that hardly reached our ears. No longer can they call thee deaf.”
The Sheikh replied: “Deafness is better than the hearing of idle words. Those that sit with me in private are prone to conceal my faults and parade my virtues; thus, do they make me vain. I feign deafness that I may be spared their flattery. When my assumed affliction has become known to them they will speak freely of that which is good and bad in me; then, being grieved at the recital of my faults, I shall abstain from evil.”
Go not down a well by a rope of praise. Be deaf, like Hātim, and listen to the words of them that slander thee.
Story illustrating Forbearance for the Sake of Friends
A certain man, whose heart was as pure as Sadi’s, fell in love. Although taunted by his enemies in consequence, he showed no anger.
Some one asked him: “Hast thou no sense of shame? Art thou not sensible to these indignities? It is abject to expose oneself to ridicule, and weak to endure patiently the scoffs of enemies. To overlook the errors of the ignorant is wrong, lest it be said that thou hast neither strength nor courage.”