Sadi rebuked for his Fault-finding
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Sadi and Edwards, A. Hart
There was a certain young preacher who was learned and intelligent, a man of sanctity and a true worshipper. He was forcible in eloquence and correct in grammar, but his articulation was so faulty that he could not properly repeat the letters of the alphabet.
I said to a holy man: “The youth has not got his front teeth!”
“Speak not thus,” he replied. “Thou hast discerned his fault, but thine eyes are closed to his many virtues. Thorns and roses grow together; why regardest thou only the thorns? He who is of bad nature sees nothing in the peacock but its ugly feet.”
Expose not the faults of others, for thereby art thou forgetful of thine own failings.
Whether I be good or evil, keep thou silent, for I am the bearer of my own profit and loss, and God is better acquainted with my character than thou.
I seek no reward from thee for my virtues so that I may not be afflicted by thee by reason of my sins.
For every good act God will bestow, not one, but ten rewards. If thou see one virtue in a man, do thou pass over the ten faults that he hath.
Are not all things created the product of the art of God?—black they are and white, handsome and deformed. Not every eye and eyebrow that thou seest is good: eat the kernel of the nut and throw the husk away.