Sharing with God

You are always guilty of something when compared to the virtue of the hypocrites. To counter them, amplify their claims until it appears how absurd and false is such perfection. This reminds me of a story:

Tamerlane’s dark army was streaming along a dusty trail under a boring dry succession of sandy gusts. In front, Timur rode his stallion. Behind, Hodja tottered on his mule.

Towards noon, in the precise middle of nowhere, the cavalcade came upon a skinny dervish curled up inside a white circle chalked on the ground. Tamerlane stopped. Nasreddin stopped. The legions stopped. Timur leaned forward and asked the man how he was surviving there.

“I ask human alms and humbly share them with God Almighty,” answered the dervish with a virtuous grin.

“By what means do you share with Allah?” inquired Timur.

“By modesty and sacrifice,” replied the anchorite, turning an insinuating critical eye towards the plump Hodja. “Whatever money I’m offered, I cast it up and use it depending where it falls. If it drops inside my white circle, I use it for myself. If it descends outside the ring it is God’s and I don’t touch it.”

Timur turned to Nasreddin.

“What do you say of this admirable moderation, worm? You, the always complaining.”

“I say: Isn’t the snake that spends all his life crawling in the dust the humblest creature and an example of modesty?”

“Maybe,” insisted Tamerlane, “but how do you share with Allah?”

“Who am I to share with the Almighty? I don't play dice with God. Everything is His. Whatever money I obtain from your generosity, I throw it all up in the air for God’s own judgement. Allah keeps what he wills. I only take for myself what falls back.”