Water Instead of Blood

INSIGHTS OF THE WISE waited on the road. Just then, a three-wheeler appeared, and he had paan in his mouth. To call the three-wheeler, he quickly spat out the paan, and by chance, a passenger who was standing nearby ended up having the entire mouthful land on his foot. The passenger immediately flew into a rage and said angrily, “You eat paan and you don’t even know how to behave when you eat it.” Afzal, a regular reader of my Urdu magazine Al-Risala, responded not with anger, but with calm words. He said, “I admit my mistake. Eating paan was wrong, and what I did afterward was wrong too.” The man grew angrier, but instead of replying to his provoking words with more provocation, Afzal said, “Please forgive me.” The man retorted that it was easy to do something wrong to someone and then say, “forgive me.” Mr Afzal replied, “Brother, I am not asking for a formal forgiveness; I ask for it from my heart. Now please allow me to wash your foot.” When Afzal offered to wash his foot, the man softened a little, and after some more words, he finally agreed to let Afzal wash his foot. There was a tea shop nearby; Afzal went straight there and said, “Uncle, give me a glass of water.” When he brought the glass, the man had cooled down completely and said, “Give it to me; I will wash it myself.” The man took the glass in his hand and washed it. One glass wasn’t enough to make him completely clean, so Afzal ran