Donkey shepherd

People complained about Saint Behlul Dana to Calif Kharun Al-Rashid because he was not practising his religion.

When Kharun al-Rashid heard about it, he was surprised, that the complaint was about his teacher, who was giving him lessons in religion! He called him and warned him:

“Bahlul, I heard that you are not practising religion, you are not praying. Everybody is talking about it! Go to the mosque immediately, pray and then come back!”

After this command, Bahlul went to mosque and in the middle of praying he said to the imam ‘Leave this job, being a donkey shepherd is the best job for you’ and then he left the mosque.

But the public had already reported this to caliph and he asked Bahlul:

“Complaints about you are getting more and more everyday. What the hell did you do at the mosque, everybody is angry with you and you even left the mosque in the middle of praying!

“My Sultan, what you’ve said is true and people are right but they do not know the real reason for my behaviour! The imam had just come to the mosque from a trip but he was already late for praying, so he quickly tied his donkey’s rein and walked into the mosque but during praying he was thinking about his donkey such as ‘Is it safe over there? Can it escape? I wish I had put it in safer place’ And as you know I can read minds so I could not stay there anymore and I left. What would you have done if you were me?”