The parable that follows was originally composed by the greatest of all Sufi poets, Jalal ad-Din Rumi (d. 1273) and recounted by Idris Shah, the Grand Shaykh of Sadarna.

A Persian, a Turk, and Arab and a Greek were traveling to a distant land when they began arguing over how to spend the single coin they posessed among themselves. All four craved food, but the Persian wanted to spend the coin on angur; the Turk, on uzum; the Arab, on inab; and the Greek, on stafil. The argument became heated as …