Islam and Peace
The Spirit of Islam
~ 52 ~
During the journey he encamped near a large grove
of trees upon which doves used to perch.
During this halt one of the Sufi’s disciples aimed at
one of the doves, killed it, cooked it and then ate it.
Afterwards something strange happened. A flock of
doves came to the tree under which the Sufi was
resting and began hovering over it and making a
noise.
The Muslim Sufi, communicating with the leader of
the birds, asked what was the matter with them and
why they were protesting. The leader replied, ‘We
have a complaint to make against you, that is, one
of your disciples has killed one of us.’ Then the
Muslim Sufi called the disciple in question and
asked him about it. He said that he had not done
anything wrong, as the birds were their foodstuff.
He was hungry, so he killed one for food. He
thought that in so doing he had not done anything
wrong. The Sufi then conveyed this reply to the
leader of the doves.
The latter replied: Perhaps you have failed to
understand our point. Actually what we are
complaining about is that all of you came here in
