~ Mawlana Shaykh Nazim Adil Al-Haqqani

The young people of our times have been deceived by devils who tell them that they must run after everything, must struggle to derive more and more pleasure from their lives. I counter these devils by giving you an example:

If you are hungry, I will bring you a cup of honey and a spoon, and you will be very grateful, saying, “I can easily eat this cup of honey, as I am so hungry and this honey is so sweet.” If you eat that cup and I bring you another, you will say, “You must have read my mind, another cup of honey is just what I was craving.” When I see that you have eaten the second, I imagine that you are still hungry and bring you a third cup. You say, “Well, this may be overdoing it, but I shall eat it.”

Then I bring you the fourth cup, and you say, “Sorry, I’m full up; I can’t eat more.” Then I say, “Where is my stick? Are you going to eat or not?” When you see my stick you eat all of it. When I see that you have finished off the fourth cup, I bring the fifth and you say, “I can’t eat it; even if you beat me, I still can’t touch it.” But if I bring my pistol and say, “Eat,” you will eat and keep eating until the seventh cup or thereabouts, looking up the nozzle of my gun. Then you will say, “Shoot! Shoot me!” I, surprised, shall then reply, “How can this be? Why, this is honey, a most delicious food – you prefer dying to eating it?” “Honey! I’m fed up with honey: honey is only trouble; I never want to see honey again in my life!” And so, devils, like in this example, make young people taste more and more of this world’s enjoyments until they are totally fed up with every pleasure.

There is Divine Wisdom in only tasting what we should taste, for then it is more tasteful. Now, for example, we are all fasting. Are you hungry? Yes, as it is late in the afternoon, you must be hungry by now, and the more hungry you become, the more tasteful the food will be once you eat it: eating will bring you pleasure. And so, when one is hungry, honey is delicious, but when we are fed up we can’t appreciate it at all.

Source: Mercy Oceans Endless Horizons (1982), pages 19-20