death
"Hey Mulla, where have you been?" asked the imam, "I have not seen you at the mosque in ages! We have missed your presence and your barakah!"
"Oh well I have not been coming for some time..." said Nasrudin "Why is that Mulla? A venerable old man like yourself, why I used to see you there every single day!"
"When will the end of the world come, Mullah?"
"Which end of the world?"
"Well, how many are there?"
On his Quest for wisdom our hero passes the abode of a yogi. The Master is lost in meditation and when he opens his eyes to the world again, Nasrudin inquires about the goal of the Master's efforts.
"I study every animal on the planet and hope to be able to communicate with them - one day..."
Nasrudin walked into a teahouse and announced:
“The moon is more useful than the sun.”
“Why?” he was asked.
“Because at night we need the light more.”
Mulla Nasrudin was very ill, and everyone thought that he was going to die. His wife dressed in mourning clothes and started to weep and wail. Mulla Nasrudin alone was unperturbed.
'Mullah,' asked one of his disciples, 'how is it that you can face death with such calm, even laughing from time to time, while we who are not going to die are in torment lest you leave us?'
When he was on his deathbed, Nasrudin motioned to his wife to come closer.
„My dear wife,“ he said gasping for air, „we have been together for many years, and I was wondering if in this, my final hour, you would grant me a last request.“
„Of course,“ said his wife in a most gentle tone.
A worldly banquet: chandeliers glitter
In the large hall —
And brilliant society, ladies and gentlemen,
Sit down for the meal.
They talk of everything and they talk of nothing —
The wine is red,
And so are the flowers. But no one, no one
Thinks of death.
Frithjof Schuon
by Irving Karchmar
“And now listen, those that have ears, to a tale of Solomon the King. Yes, Solomon, the mightiest and wisest ruler of the earth that ever was or shall be. Wealthy beyond measure was Solomon, and with such wisdom as only Allah may bestow.
“And lo, he commanded the wind, and both men and Jinn, birds and animals. All were servants unto him. Yet he lost favor in the sight of God, for neither wealth nor power nor wisdom brought him enlightenment.
But in the world, at one time men shun death as the greatest of all evils, and at another time choose it as a respite from the evils in life. The wise man does not deprecate life nor does he fear the cessation of life. The thought of life is no offence to him, nor is the cessation of life regarded as an evil. And even as men choose of food not merely and simply the larger portion, but the more pleasant, so the wise seek to enjoy the time which is most pleasant and not merely that which is longest.
Epicurus
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"...did any of your students ever become enlightened?"