WARDING OFF DANGER

Warding off Danger ~ 231 ~ WARDING OFF DANGER I once went to spend a few days at a religious institution situated on the outskirts of Alwar, a city in Rajasthan. To the one side there extended the buildings of the city and, to the other, there were open fields stretching far and wide. During my stay there, I went out one evening at sunset to have a walk in the fields. Unfortunately, after I had gone some distance, I was rushed at by a pack of dogs all barking and snarling. I had to throw stones at them to chase them away. On my return, I mentioned to my host how I had almost been set upon by these animals. My host, Maulana Mufti Jamaluddin Qasmi, who presides over the institution, simply smiled and said, “All right, I’ll come with you tomorrow.” The following day, we set off together, the Maulana having armed himself with a stick which was quite long enough to be visible from afar. When we reached the spot where I had come upon the dogs the day before, they were there all right, but there was not so much as a whimper out of them, far less a bark. Not one of them made a move to rush at us. So we passed by undisturbed. On our way back, they were still there, but, they did