Also, that same day he brought almost an okka18  of paraffin to the mosque. In a  way he had never done before, he left the door open and a kitten entered. Then a big man came, and supposing the paraffin in the ewer to be water, sprinkled it all around the mosque, in order to clean it and the mess left by the kitten on the prayer-mat. It is extraordinary that he did not smell the paraffin. That is to say, the mosque did not allow the man to smell it, in order to tell Mustafa Çavuş through the tongue of disposition: “We don’t need your paraffin. I haven’t accepted it because  of  the  mistake  you  made.”  That  week  on  the  eve  of  Friday  and  other important prayers, even, he was unable to join the congregation, although he tried to. Then he repented earnestly and asked forgiveness, and he regained his purity of heart.

The  Second  Mustafa’s:  These  are  my  worthy,  hard-working,  and  important student  Mustafa  from  Kuleönü,  and  his  most  loyal,  self-sacrificing  friend,  Hâfız Mustafa (May God grant him mercy). After the religious festival I sent word telling them not to come lest ‘the worldly’ bother us and discourage us in our service of the Qur’an, but if they had to  come, they should come singly. Then one night, three of them came all together. They intended to leave before dawn. In a way that had never happened  before,  neither  Mustafa  Çavuş,  nor  Süleyman  Efendi,  nor  myself,  nor themselves, had thought of taking any clear precautions; we were made to forget to do so. Each of us left it to the others and took no measures. They left before dawn. Then for two hours they were pounded by such a storm that  I was alarmed thinking that they would not survive it. This winter there had been no such storm, nor had I pitied anyone  so  much.  As  a punishment  for his  lack of caution,  I  was  going  to  send Süleyman after them to find out if they were well and safe. Mustafa Çavuş said: “If he goes, he will be stranded too, and I’ll have to go after him to find him. Then Abdullah Çavuş will have to come after me.” So saying: “We place our trust in God!” we waited.

Q u e s t i o n : You consider the calamities visited on your special friends to be slaps;  punishment for laxity in their service of the Qur’an. Whereas those that are truly inimical to you and to the service of the Qur’an remain safe and sound. Why are friends dealt slaps while enemies are left untroubled?

T h e  A n s w e r : According to, “Wrongdoing does not continue, but unbelief does,”19   friends’ errors are wrongdoing of a sort in this service of the Qur’an, and therefore are  swiftly punished. A person receives a compassionate slap and if he is  sensible, realizes his error. But enemies oppose this service and try to prevent it on account of misguidance. Knowingly or unknowingly,  their  aggression  against  our  service  assists  atheism.  Since  unbelief persists, generally they do not receive any blows immediately.

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19 al-Munawi, Fayd al-Qadir, ii, 107.