In a story drawn from Jalaluddin Rumi’s Masnavi, Sheikh Bahauddin reminds us that the greatest riches are not measured in gold or property but in the humility and love that endure beyond the grave. The story tells of a wealthy man who lived like a king, with boundless wealth, a grand estate and one beloved son, who stands at his father’s bedside as the old man approaches his last breath.
The Father’s Unusual Request
On his deathbed, the father asks his son to fulfil one last wish. He hands him a pair of threadbare socks full of holes and says: “When I am laid in the shroud, put these socks on me so that I may not feel cold in the grave.” The son, startled, assumes his father is about to renounce his inheritance. Yet the father insists: the socks are to be washed and put on his body after the funeral rites.
The son takes the request to the local imam, the mufti and finally the judge (kadi), and each refuses. Their reasoning follows the legal and ritual norms of Islam: the dead are wrapped in a shroud, not dressed in clothing, let alone in a pair of old socks. The wish falls outside the established rules.
The Letter Inside the Socks
When the matter reaches the kadi, the judge asks the son to read the letter that came with the socks. In it, the dying father writes:
“My son, I have possessed great wealth and power, but you cannot dress me in these socks after I have passed. The true gift I seek is not material. Let my love and humility be the legacy you carry forward.”
This letter changes the meaning of the whole episode. The father’s wish was never about dressing a body; it was a symbolic test of the son’s willingness to honour a humble request, even one that seems absurd. Through the socks, the father reminded his heir that attachment to wealth is fleeting, while modesty and obedience endure.
The Spiritual Lesson
Sheikh Bahauddin uses this story to highlight a central Sufi teaching: true wealth lies in the heart’s capacity for surrender, compassion and remembrance of the Divine, not in the accumulation of worldly goods. The story urges us to:
- Recognise the impermanence of material riches.
- Value the humility that lets us serve others, even in the most modest ways.
- Understand that a parent’s love can show itself in seemingly strange gestures with a deeper spiritual meaning.
When we let go of the illusion that money means security, we open ourselves to the richer, unseen blessings of inner peace and nearness to the Divine.
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