Three Wise Men

One day some wise men, who were going about the country trying to find answers to some of the great questions of their time, came to Mulla Nasruddin’s district and asked to see the wisest man in the place. Mulla Nasruddin was brought forward, and a big crowd gathered to listen.

The first wise man began by asking, “Where is the exact center of the world?”

“It is under my right heel,” answered Mulla Nasruddin.

“How can you prove that?” asked the first wise man.

“If you don’t believe me,” answered Mulla Nasruddin, “measure and see.”

The first wise man had nothing to answer to that, so the second wise man asked his question. “How many stars are there in the sky?” he said. “As many as there are hairs on my donkey,” answered Mulla Nasruddin.

“What proof have you got of that?” asked the second wise man.

“If you don’t believe me,” answered Mulla Nasruddin, “count the hairs on my donkey and you will see.”

“That’s foolish talk,” said the other. “How can one count the hairs on a donkey?”

“Well,” answered Mulla Nasruddin, “How can one count the stars in the sky? If one is foolish talk, so is the other.” The second wise man was silent.

The third wise man was becoming annoyed with Mulla Nasruddin and his answers, so he said, “You seem to know a lot about your donkey, so can you tell me how many hairs there are in its tail?”

“Yes,” answered Mulla Nasruddin. “There are exactly as many hairs in its tail as there are in your beard.”

“How can you prove that?” said the other.

“I can prove it very easily,” answered Mulla Nasruddin. “You can pull one hair out of my donkey’s tail for every one I pull out of your beard. If the hairs on my donkey’s tail do not come to an end at exactly the same time as the hairs in your beard, I will admit that I was wrong.”

Of course, the third wise man was not willing to do this, so the crowd declared Mulla Nasruddin the winner of the day’s arguments.

Checkpoint - a modern Nasruddin

I came across a modern version of an ancient Nasruddin story .......

Checkpoint - A tale of Nasruddin. plus advertisement from Ross Al - Khirsan on Vimeo.

Tour Guide

Mullah Nasruddin went on a pilgrimage to Mecca, and on the way he passed through Medina. As he was walking by the main mosque there, a rather confused looking tourist approached him.

“Excuse me sir,” said the tourist, “but you look like a native of these parts; can you tell me something about this mosque? It looks very old and important, but I’ve lost my guidebook.”

Nasruddin, being too proud to admit that he, too, had no idea what it was, immediately began an enthusiastic explanation. “This is indeed a very old and special mosque.” he declared, “It was built by Alexander the Great to commemorate his conquest of Arabia.”

The tourist was suitably impressed, but presently a look of doubt crossed his face. “But how can that be?” he asked, “I’m sure that Alexander was a Greek or something, not a Muslim. . . Wasn’t he?”

“I can see that you know something of these matters.” replied Nasruddin with chagrin, “In fact, Alexander was so impressed at his good fortune in war that he converted to Islam in order to show his gratitude to God.” “Oh, wow.” said the tourist, then paused. “Hey, but surely there was no such thing as Islam in Alexander’s time?”

“An excellent point! It is truly gratifying to meet a visitor who understands our history so well,” answered Nasruddin. “As a matter of fact, he was so overwhelmed by the generosity God had shown him that as soon as the fighting was over he began a new religion, and became the founder of Islam.”

The tourist looked at the mosque with new respect, but before Nasruddin could quietly slip into the passing crowd, another problem occurred to him.

“But wasn’t the founder of Islam named Mohammed? I mean, that’s what I read in a book; at least I’m sure it wasn’t Alexander.”

“I can see that you are a scholar of some learning,” said Nasruddin, “I was just getting to that. Alexander felt that he could properly dedicate himself to his new life as a prophet only by adopting a new identity. So, he gave up his old name and for the rest of his life called himself Mohammed.”

“Really?” wondered the tourist, “That’s amazing! But…but I thought that Alexander the Great lived a long time before Mohammed? Is that right?”

“Certainly not!” answered the Mullah, “You’re thinking of a different Alexander the Great. I’m talking about the one named Mohammed.” 


Mullah and theFundraiser

This is a more modern Nasruddin story with a  US flavour

A professional fundraiser called upon Mulla Nasruddin.

”I am seeking contributions for a worthy charity,” he said.

”Our goal is 100, 000 and a well−known philanthropist has already donated a quarter of that.”


”Wonderful,” said Nasrudin. ”and I will give you another Quarter......

 Have you got change for a dollar?”


Bob the Builder: 'Entertaining Angels'

There were 6 street angels (WSA) on duty on Friday night in 3 equal male-female pairs. Perfect....

 Angel based on Van Gogh drawing

Our pair spent the initial time (first 2 hours) chatting, clearing bottles, greeting people. We talked to Pakistani Taxi drivers and an Afghan pizza man,  as well as Nigerian and Eastern European Bouncers. Woking is becoming much more multi-cultural.  We were offered a glass of green tea by one taxi driver who had once driven me to Gatwick and remembered me by name. I didn't recognise him at first. 'cos he's grown a bushy beard.  The sweet 'kava' was served by a restauranteer from Gilgit in N Pakistan. I had visited there in 1987, even visiting his village of Kaplu in Baltistan, so we had lots to talk about.... 

Since it had been raining, and because of the general recession, there were not that many people out  but we still had a significant evening of encounters and conversations.

A recent BBC article  claimed that anti-social behviour was down by 21% in Woking since the StreetAngels had been out on the streets.  This was due to a combination of good Community Policing and more visibility by WSA and groups like Outside Lights.   They were under the station canopy, giving away tea and literature. Interestingly some of the police thought we were the same group. 

By the way,  you can now follow the local Woking Police on Twitter @WokingBeat.  And Woking Street Angels also have a Facebook page

We had a number of encounters, in particular a fascinating conversation with 'Charles'* (*all names have been changed or made up*),  a well-spoken young Trader, someone learning the fast paced lifestyle, currently in £500 a month as a student, but soon expecting to earn £500 a day, if he could keep up with the highly pressured lifestyle.  

We came across one man, 'Pete'* sitting on a bench with his head in his hands. He had been kicked out of  pub for disturbing bahaviour and was feeling very low indeed.  He had lost his job and had lived rough a few time in the past and had also been in a drug rehab years ago.  He could see himself sliding back down and was talking of harming himself. So we walked him back to his house. It was difficult to leave someone who was talking of getting a knife to cut himself. Walking away can also be an act of faith.

The police seemed particularly helpful on this occasion going round to check on him.  We later got a message that he was OK and sleeping it off.

We also me someone  'Neville'* who was obviously very high and had great difficulty drinking from the bottle of water we gave him.  He did seem to really enjoy his lollipop.  'Bob the Builder'*  and his mate were looking for a place they could get a pint at 2 in the morning.  We all ended up staying with 'Neville' and helping him walk towards the centre of town, (he certainly couldn't walk very straight at all). They even rolled him a fag.  Bob the Builder said he had been an addict himself years ago, and had been off for 11 years and now had his own family and a good job.  He was really helpful with Neville, who said he had nowhere to stay cos he'd been kicked out.   We gave him a blanket and he bed down for the night in a  doorway near BHS,   The police, who knew him well as a PPO  (Persistent Petty Offender), said they wouldn't disturb him and let him sleep it off for a bit. I thought that was great.....   

I mentioned to 'Bob' that he had missed out on that extra pint on his Friday night out. He responded that helping Neville was much better than a pint. It had reminded him of where he had been and how far he had progressed. He may have been a rough diamond in the past, but he certainly shone that night. The Bible talks about practicing hospitality and entertaining angels unawares. Actually I think we saw an angel at work that night in the guise of Bob the Builder.......