The first four, who were seemingly friends but later displayed enmity:

The First: Employing various means, a District Officer begged me for a copy of the Tenth Word. I gave him one. But then, in order to be promoted, he spurned my friendship  and  turned  hostile  to  me.  This  took  the  form  of  complaining  to  the Governor and informing on me. But as a mark of favour for service of the Qur’an, he was not promoted, but dismissed.

The Second: Another District Officer assumed a competitive and hostile stance towards me although he was a friend, for the sake of his superiors and to attract the attention of the worldly, but he received a blow contrary to his intentions. He was sentenced to two and a half years’ imprisonment  owing to some unforeseen matter. Later he asked for prayers from a servant of the Qur’an. Perhaps he will be saved, God willing, since prayers were offered for him.

The Third: A teacher appeared to be a friend and I looked on him as one. Then he moved  to Barla to settle there  and he chose  to adopt  a hostile  stance.  But he received a blow contrary to his intentions: he was posted away from teaching to serve in the army. He was sent away from Barla.

The Fourth: There was a teacher, who because he seemed to me to be both a hafiz[6] and pious, I was sincerely friendly towards him in the hope that he would show friendship  to  me by serving  the  Qur’an.  Then,  in order  to  curry favour  with  the worldly, he behaved very coldly towards us and was frightened, because of one single thing an official had said. He too received a blow contrary to his intentions: he was severely reprimanded by the inspector, and dismissed.

These four men received those blows because of their animosity. However, the following three friends did not display the manly attitude that serious friendship demands, and so received not blows, but warnings contrary to their intentions, which were admonitions of a sort.

The  First:  A  respected  person  who  was  a most  important,  serious,  and  true student of mine used to write out the Words continually and disseminate them.

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             [5] “The worldly” (ehl-i dünya): those people whose view is restricted to the life of this world, and who disregard the hereafter, or those who sell religion for this world. (Tr.)

[6] Hafız: a person who has memorized the whole Qur’an. (Tr.)