Aalim and the King: Sufi Story by Saadi
An Aalim (religious scholar) was invited to the King’s court. In order to impress the King with his piety, he ate very less than usual and prayed much longer than normal.
When he reached home, he was starving and asked his son for food.
“Father, didn’t King serve you food?”, he exclaimed.
“Indeed, but in order to impress the King, I ate less than usual and prayed more”, he replied.
“Then you should also pray again”, replied the son. “Because the artificial prayers rendered to impress king rather for sake of Allah is meaningless”.
