A rich man once came to the Mullah Nasruddin with a gardening question. He said, “Mullah, I love roses. I love their vibrant colors, their fragrance and the way I feel in their presence. So when I bought my new home I planted seeds of roses everywhere. But season after season, roses never grew instead all that grew in my garden was Chamomile, which are weeds!”
Nasruddin said, “I myself love Chamomile flowers, but what has grown in my garden the past few seasons has been Marigold.” The man then said, “What do you suppose that I do Mullah?” Nasruddin thought for a moment and then said, “You could move to the banks of the Tigris river in Persia and grow as many roses as you’d like in the fertile land where roses are known to flourish.” The man said, “Oh but that would be too far, expensive, and inconvenient.”
Nasruddin thought for a few more moments before saying, “I have got it!” The man leaned in with anticipation as Nasruddin continued, “The solution is simple. You must learn to fall in love with Chamomile!”
The man left Nasruddin disappointed, but committed to falling in love with Chamomile. A year later the man returned to Nasruddin with delightful news. “Oh Mullah! You told me to fall in love with Chamomile and now they are my favorite flowers. For most of my life I have had trouble sleeping, but these flowers brewed in hot water make a delicious night time tea that have cured me of my insomnia. Roses are beautiful and what my eyes longed to see, but these Chamomile flowers are what I didn’t know I needed!”
A Spiritual Reflection on the Story:
This story reminds us to love what chooses to grow in the garden of the present no matter what flower it may be. Everything Allah allows to happen in our lives has a purpose and deep meaning. Every moment is an opportunity to surrender and deepen our trust in Him. After all, just as a seed doesn’t have to have a PhD in the metaphysics of light to bloom into a tree, we don’t have to understand God’s wisdom behind what is happening in our lives to be transformed. Nasruddin wasn’t just saying “love chamomile flowers” he was saying “learn to love whatever Allah plants in the garden of your life.”
“But perhaps you dislike a thing and it is good for you; and perhaps you love a thing and it is bad for you.”
—Qur’an 2:216
As the mystics say, “Many blessings are hidden in what you dislike, and many harms are hidden in what you love.” When the man stops obsessing over what he didn’t receive, he’s able to appreciate the gift of what Allah had given him. The Prophet ﷺ reminds us, “Verily, Allah will put His servants to trial in what He gives them. Whoever is pleased with what Allah has apportioned for him, then Allah will bless him in it and expand it. Whoever is not pleased, he will never be blessed in it.” (Musnad Aḥmad 20279)
This story follows a common pattern of growth. We begin with a desire (longing for roses), the desire is not met (chamomile are growing instead of roses), the ego is confronted with its lack of control (we don’t always get what we want), opportunity to look beneath the surface (chamomile has its own beauty), surrender to Allah’s wisdom over your own (chamomile is what was actually needed). As the man begins to change his inner orientation from what he wants to being open to witnessing the mercy in what Allah is making, his experience of the outside world completely shifts. Once he accepts what he once resisted, his awareness expands, unveiling the blessings hidden in plain sight.
As the late spiritual teacher Wayne Dryer said, “The only difference between a flower and a weed is a judgment.”
In other words, most of our suffering in life is not a function of what happens, but how we interpret what happens. When we let go of what we think we want we make space to receive what we really need. May Allah help us to not live our lives solely through the lens of our interpretations, which are colored by our childhood misperceptions and past traumas. May Allah help us to be present, to be sons and daughters of the moment, and be renewed by His grace. Oh Allah, I pray that we are able to celebrate the flowers and weeds You have planted in the gardens of our life by trusting in Your wisdom over all else. Oh Allah, help us to see that just as the antidote hides in the illness, the peace we seek hides in the difficulties You have written for us to grow through. Oh Allah help us to surrender our limiting perception of reality in order to receive the expansiveness of what You want to teach us. Ameen
In prayers of light upon light,
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.