kitten entered. Then a big man came, and supposing the paraffin in the ewer to be water, sprinkled it all around the mosque, in order to clean it and the mess left by the kitten on the prayer-mat. It is extraordinary that he did not smell the paraffin. That is to say, the mosque did not allow the man to smell it, in order to tell Mustafa Çavuş through the tongue of disposition: “We don’t need your paraffin. I haven’t accepted it because of the mistake you made.” That week on the eve of Friday and other important prayers, even, he was unable to join the congregation, although he tried to. Then he repented earnestly and asked forgiveness, and he regained his purity of heart.
The Second Mustafa’s: These are my worthy, hard-working, and important student Mustafa from Kuleönü, and his most loyal, self-sacrificing friend, Hâfız Mustafa (May God grant him mercy). After the religious festival I sent word telling them not to come lest ‘the worldly’ bother us and discourage us in our service of the Qur’an, but if they had to come, they should come singly. Then one night, three of them came all together. They intended to leave before dawn. In a way that had never happened before, neither Mustafa Çavuş, nor Süleyman Efendi, nor myself, nor themselves, had thought of taking any clear precautions; we were made to forget to do so. Each of us left it to the others and took no measures. They left before dawn. Then for two hours they were pounded by such a storm that I was alarmed thinking that they would not survive it. This winter there had been no such storm, nor had I pitied anyone so much. As a punishment for his lack of caution, I was going to send Süleyman after them to find out if they were well and safe. Mustafa Çavuş said: “If he goes, he will be stranded too, and I’ll have to go after him to find him. Then Abdullah Çavuş will have to come after me.” So saying: “We place our trust in God!” we waited.
Q u e s t i o n : You consider the calamities visited on your special friends to be slaps; punishment for laxity in their service of the Qur’an. Whereas those that are truly inimical to you and to the service of the Qur’an remain safe and sound. Why are friends dealt slaps while enemies are left untroubled?
T h e A n s w e r : According to, “Wrongdoing does not continue, but unbelief does,”1 friends’ errors are wrongdoing of a sort in this service of the Qur’an, and therefore are swiftly punished. A person receives a compassionate slap and if he is sensible, realizes his error. But enemies oppose this service and try to prevent it on account of misguidance. Knowingly or
al-Munawi, Fayd al-Qadir, ii, 107.