Once upon a time a saint was told to visit a mean man called so-and-so who lived in such-and-such street.

The saint arrived at that man’s house in the evening. He knocked at the door. The mean man asked:

“Who is that?” The saint replied: “I’m a visitor that Allah sent; I thought you would be able to help me.”

 “That’s fine. If you are a visitor that Allah sent, then there is a little mosque over there. Go there and stay as long as you wish. Obviously Allah will not expel you from that place,” replied the mean man, without even opening the door.

Facing this unexpectedly, the saint turned back towards his home. But before he left he saw that a poor man was warming himself close to an oven in the mean man’s garden. The saint approached and the poor man, who did not know the saint who greeted him said: “Come, have a rest.”

“What are you up to here?” the saint asked.

“The judge has called me before him tomorrow. I have no place to stay now, nor do I have anything to eat. I saw that the oven was very hot. I think loaves of bread have just been baked in it. I took the smell of the bread, that fed my desire, and with the oven’s heat I have warmed up my body.”

The next day, the saint accompanied the man to the office of the judge. The judge assessed the case and gave the man the death penalty. The judge asked the poor man:

“You will be executed in the afternoon. Tell us your last wish.”

“I complain of nobody in this world, but they call Turan fiah a man of justice. If he is really so, may he let me dig my own grave in the ruins of a former estate of ours, and may he allow me to be buried there,” the poor man said.

The Soltan was informed of the man’s wish, and gave permission for what he wanted. The Soltan thought:

“There is an interesting side to this event. Let me see for myself how the man digs his grave. For this is the first time a criminal has requested something like this.” The Soltan then went to the ruins where the man would be. He saw that the criminal was digging his grave in the corner of the field. Those who saw the Soltan all stood up and greeted him. The criminal dared to extend a hand to salute the Soltan. The Soltan did not feel offended since the man would soon be executed. The Soltan said:

“I read the decree ordered by the judge. There are three witnesses against you, but you have none who will speak for you.

“My Soltan, I had two such witnesses. Didn’t you just hear them speak a while ago?”

“I heard them indeed, but the judge wouldn’t accept them as witnesses.”

Thinking that the criminal was trying to avoid execution, the judge cried out:

“He has no witnesses.”

The man was still digging at that time. He unearthed a large jar at the bottom of the pit. He took the jar out of the pit. They opened it to see that it was full of golden coins.

The Soltan said:

“Here he has a third witness.”

The saint added:

“No, my Soltan, the witnesses are four in number.”

The judge grew angry and asked:

“How come? Where are the witnesses?”

The Soltan said in reply:

“Didn’t you just notice the man’s hands when you first came up to him? His palms have got callouses on them. A man whose hands are so because of the hard labour he has done cannot be engaged in theft. His two witnesses are his two hands!”

The saint continued:

“I heard a secret voice telling me to look for my share in the property of a mean man. But that mean man did not even take time to open his door to me. Therefore not the mean man, but this man who was warming himself up next to the mean man’s oven found a fortune. Neither the judge nor you, my Soltan, is to be blamed. For if this man had not been sentenced to death, and if Allah had not inspired in him the feeling that made him wish to be buried in these ruins that once belonged to him, then this fortune would never have come out. By Allah’s will, this man has found the fortune he had a right to have.”

(367-370.)