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Mulla Nasruddin

Mulla Nasruddin was invited to give a talk to the people in his village. Most of the people in the group wanted to make fun of him or irritate him by asking useless questions. Mulla knew this and he did not want to share anything with them. After a lot of persuasion Mulla agreed to meet the gathering.

A day and time was fixed and Mulla reached there. Mulla looked around and saw the crowd of people looking at him. He cleared his throat and asked, ‘Do you know what I am going to talk about?’ The crowd replied in one voice, ‘No, Mulla.’ Mulla pretended to be disheartened and said, ‘If you don’t even know what I am going to talk about, what is the use of telling you?’ ‘You won’t understand anyway’, so saying he left the place.

The crowd was disappointed but they persisted and got Mulla back for a second meeting. This time they had all decided to say, ‘Yes’ when Mulla asked his question. Mulla came, cleared his throat, and asked, ‘Do you know what I am going to talk about?’ The entire crowd said, ‘Yes’. Mulla happily looked at them and said, ‘Since you already know everything, what is the point in telling you’. He left the place immediately.

This time the people decided that half of them will say, ‘Yes’ and half of them will say, ‘No’, when Mulla asked the question. After a lot of persuasion, Mulla came to the meeting place, cleared his throat and asked, ‘Do you know what I am going to talk about?’ The people on his right shouted, ‘Yes’, while the people on his left said, ‘No’.

Mulla looked at the people on the right, pointed to the people on the left and said, ‘Since you know it, you teach these people who don’t know. The crowd speechlessly watched Mulla walking away.

Levels of Understanding

Level 1: Read the story and enjoy the trick played by the audience on Mulla and by Mulla on the audience.

Level 2: Think about instances when we do not understand something because it is entirely new to us or we think we already know everything about it and there cannot be any new information.

Level 3: Mulla Nasruddin was a sufi saint. Saints share mystical knowledge only with the specially deserving people. With the others they behave as if they know nothing and they are fools.

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