Aslam

stage i s to bring his friend down to his stage and remain satisfied by making him sharer in his properties. He will also come down to his stage till he becomes equal partner with him. Hazrat Hasan Basari said : Once a friend divided his shirt into two portions and gave one portion to his friend, (c) The third stages is to place the needs of a friend above his own needs. This is the rank of the truthful and is the last limit of the three stages of friendship . The result is I'sar or the sacrifice of one's need for the other. It has been reported that a party of bad people made defamation against a party of religious men. As a result, The Caliph passed order for the execution of the religious people. There was the sage Abul Hasan Nuri was one of them. Before all of them, he advanced towards the gallows and said : Hang me first : On being asked the reason of his desire for death, he said : I wish to

Save the lives nf my fripnHc even »""• sqme twinning in linn nt my

life. This was the cause of the saving the lives of the religious men. Mamun-b-Mahran said : He who is pleased with his friend by giving up good things, made friendship as it were with the inmates of grases.

Stage of the world: It is not pleasing to the religious men. It is said that the sage Otbatul Golam went once to the house of his friend and said : I ha ve got need of four thousand coins from your wealth. He said : Take two thousand coins. He turned his face at this and said : I adopted God in lien of this world. Don't you feel ashamed that you claim friendship for God but place the love of the world over friendship ? The sage a Abu Hazem said : When you have got a friend for the sake of God don't engage him in your affairs of the world.

Highest Stage: God praised the believers in this verse : Their affairs are settled by mutual consultations and they spend out of what I have provided them with . In other words, they mixed their wealth and did not distinguish it. If anybody said among them. "This is my shoe", they did not keep company with him as he uttered this keeping his own connection with his prosperity.
It is said that the sage Falhtel Musuali went once to the house of his friend in his absence and said to his maid-servant : Take to me the cash box of your master. When she brought it to him he took therefrom some coins necessary for him . The maid-servant informed her master about it and he said : If you speak the truth.
I set you free, because what you informed me is a good news. One

Vol-II Love and Brotherhood 103