How the gardener separated the Sufi, the jurist and the descendants of 'Alî from each other

A gardener, looking into his orchard, saw three men appearing to be thieves:
A jurist, a sharif and a Sufi; each of them a brazen, insolent and treacherous rascal.
He said: "I have a hundred arguments against these people, but they are united, and a united company is a source of strength.
2170 "I cannot stand up to three people on my own, so I will first separate them from each other.
"I will isolate each of them from the others, and when each is alone, I will beat him."
He used a ruse and sent the Sufi away, in order to poison the minds of his friends against him.
He said to the Sufi: "Go home and bring back a carpet for your companions."

As soon as the Sufi had left, he said in secret to the two friends: "You are a jurist, and this one a famous sharif.
"It is by your legal decision that we eat bread; it is by the wings of your knowledge that we fly.
"And this other is our prince and ruler: he is a sayyid, he is from the House of Mustafâ.
"Who is this vile Sufi glutton that he associates with kings such as yourselves?
"When he returns, chase him away and take possession of my orchard and my field for a week. 

"What is my orchard? My life belongs to you, O you who have always been as dear to me as my eyes."
2180 He indulged in wicked suggestions and deceived them. Ah, we must not suffer the loss of friends patiently!
When they had chased the Sufi away and he had gone, the enemy came after him with a big club.
"O dog, he cried, is this Sufism that all of a sudden you come into my orchard in spite of me?
" Did Djunayd or Bâyazîd teach you to behave in this way?
From which sheikh or pîr was this brought to you?" 

When he found the Sufi alone, he beat him half to death and split his skull.
The Sufi said: "My time has passed, but, O my comrades, take good care of yourselves!
"You considered me an enemy. Behold! I am no more an enemy than this scoundrel.
‘This cup that I have drunk must be drunk by you, and such a sip is what is due to every scoundrel.’
This world is like a mountain, and all your words come back to you with the echo.
After the gardener had finished with the Sufi, he invented a pretext similar to the first, 

2190 Saying, ‘O my sharif, go to the house, for I have baked some thin cakes of bread for breakfast.
’ At the door of the house, tell Qaymâz to fetch these cakes and the goose."
When he had sent him, he said to the other man: "O you of keen eyesight, you are a jurist; that is clear and certain.
"But he, your friend, a sharif! This is an absurd claim on his part.
Who knows who committed adultery with his mother?
"Will you trust a woman and a woman's actions? Will you consider her weak-minded, and then believe her?
‘Maint fool in this world claims to relate to 'Alî and the Prophet.’ 

Whoever is born of an adulterer and is himself an adulterer will also think this of the men of God.
Anyone who is dizzy with his own spinning sees the house spinning like himself.
What this vain talker, the gardener, said showed what his own condition was, and was far from being applicable to the descendants of the Prophet.
Had he not been the offspring of apostates, how would he have spoken thus of the House of the Prophet? 

2200 He used tricks, and the jurist listened to them. Then this insolent tyrant went to the sharif.
He said: "O donkey, who invited you to this orchard? Was robbery left to you as an inheritance by the Prophet?
"The young lion resembles the lion: in what way do you resemble the Prophet? Tell me!"
The gardener, who had sought refuge in cunning, did to the sharif what a kharidjite would do to the Family of Yâ-sîn (Mohammad)*.
What hatred demons and ghouls like Yazîd and Shimr* have always shown towards the Family of the Prophet!
The Sharif was overwhelmed by the blows of this bandit. He said to the jurist: "I jumped out of the water. 

"You, stand firm, now that you are alone and without our help. Be like a drum, and bear the blows on your belly!
‘If I am not a sharif and worthy of you, and a close friend, at any rate, I am no worse for you than such a villain.’
The gardener finished with the sharif and returned, saying, ‘O lawyer, what sort of lawyer are you, O you shame of every fool?
’ Is it your legal opinion, O convicted thief, that you can come into my orchard without asking permission? 

2210 ‘Have you read such a permission in the Wasît, or has this question been decided in the Muhît*?’
You are right,‘ he replied; ’fight me, you are the strongest. That is the punishment that befits one who separates himself from his friends."

* The Kharidjite theory of succession to the khalifate was opposed to the Shiite doctrine of Divine Right.

* Yazid, son of the Umayyad khalif Mu'âwiyya, opponent of 'Alî and his family. Shimr ibn-Dhi'l-Djawshan, hated because of his role in the tragedy of Kerbala (680).
* Titles of works on jurisprudence.

Source: Mohammed Djalal od Din Rumi (may Allah be pleased with him) - Mathnawi - Book II.