By Any Other Name…

A student once asked Mullah Nasruddin, “How is it that you, a devout man, worship with a Christian or a Hindu or a Buddhist, and do not feel that you are compromising your own belief? Don’t you regard yourself as being wishy-washy when you can agree with a Buddhist, ‘Yes, there is no God,’ and with a Christian, ‘Yes, Jesus is the Son of God?’ It seems to me that you are compromising your own faith and that you look at all beliefs as if they were toys!”

The Mullah Nasruddin took his student to his sister’s home for a reunion. When he knocked on the door he told the student, “Pay close attention.”

One of the Mullah’s nephews answered the door. “Uncle, please come in!” He gave the Mullah a big hug and they talked a bit.

Then the Mullah’s sister came up to him, “Brother, it is so good to see you, but you should have called first,” and the conversation went on from there.

Then an older man came up to the Mullah saying, “Nephew! It is so good to see you. I meant to come by your place, but we have been very busy here.”

Then the Mullah made his way to the kitchen where his parents were. “My son, why have you stayed away so long? Are you too busy to spend a little time with your family?”

Just then the husband of the Mullah’s sister came into the house with a friend and seeing the Mullah said, “Brother-in-law, what are you doing here? I thought that after your last visit you would not come back.” And the man who came in with the Mullah’s brother-in-law said, “Old friend, it has been a long time since we have seen each other,” and they embraced.

And so it went for some hours until the Mullah decided that it was time to go. After all of his farewells, Mullah and the student walked home together.

“Well,” the Mullah questioned, “What did you learn?”

The student replied, “You have a very large family!”

“No!” The Mullah said, “I mean about how ‘wishy-washy’ I am.”

And the student, who had become absorbed in what was happening at the Mullah’s sister’s home, had forgotten all about their earlier conversation. “I am sorry Mullah, I have completely forgotten our previous conversation.”

And the Mullah said, “You asked me how I could share the beliefs of all the different followers while, at the same time, my own belief as well? Wasn’t that your question that we went to my sister’s home to answer?”

“Yes Mullah,” said the student with a smile, “But the subject of religion never came up. So you see, you forgot the question as well.”

Then the Mullah looked to the sky and shook his head, “Why, Beloved, have you blessed me with such an intelligent student?” Then looking at the student the Mullah explained, “We never discussed religion because the answer was not religious. It is a matter of RELATIONSHIP.”

“Did you not observe that when we arrived my nephew called me ‘uncle,’ my uncle called me ‘nephew,’ my sister called me ‘brother,’ my mother called me ‘son’ my sister’s husband called me ‘brother-in-law,’ and the other man called me ‘old friend?’”

“Did you notice that none of my family argued with each other when each called me by a different name? No one said, ‘he is not your uncle, he is my brother-in law.’ Nor did I say, ‘don’t call me son when I am clearly an old friend.’”

“Ah, now I understand!” said the student.