The Dermis Probe

Ghazna

The Dermis Probe

MEMBERS OF THE Commission of World Scientists gaze at a bewildering sight, brought to us by television, using cameras equipped with close-up lenses of inordinate power.

The picture pans across a greyish, striated surface, a vista of solid in space, broken here and there by fissures, sometimes curving, sometimes obscured by flat shadows. Nothing moves, nothing grows on the barren area. The harsh roughness of the sight hints at a silent, empty mass, an outer skin as of a larva or a pachyderm, gnarled as though with immemorial age.

As we watch, the American commentator’s voice sets the scene of this documentary report:

From the beginning of time, man has consistently and untiringly explored his environment, he has striven to extend the threshold of his knowledge, even driving probes deep into outer space …

The British voice of the Chairman of the Commission is now heard, as the pictures of the object alternate, the angles varying, to give as complete a view as possible of the intimidating, silent bulk:

What we are considering here is the, er, topography of the outer husk, as it were, the skin of the, er, bulk of a mass whose characteristics are …

Now fades in the matter-of-fact report of the laboratory astrophysicist, giving a fragment of his results:

… Microscopic sections of this undoubtedly organic material betray a cellular structure strikingly akin to Dermic tissue.

The viewers can hear sounds corresponding with the laboratory operation. The astrophysicist continues:

Staining the section with Von Glauben’s Fluid …

He is interrupted, for this is a democratic discussion.

The German Scientist’s rejoinder is clearly heard:

Von Glauben’s Fluid? May I point out that this was found to be a totally arbitrary method in early nineteen hundred and sixty-three, when it was superseded by Kauffer and Blakmann’s Traumatic Method. It is totally out of date.

The Chairman, like all good chairmen, switches the discussion to bring in another constructive scientist:

Er, no, yes, er, quite; however, pending further corroboration, er, to resume, we can be safe, and, indeed, germane, in asking Professor Markarjee to give us some data on the basis of his Indian experiences with this material.

Dr Markarjee is brisk and to the point:

I can categorically state that positively this material cannot be conclusively classified by conventional categorization. All personnel engaged in the combined Calcutta and Benares project were objective in their subjectivity because they had been subjected to an intense program of induced Nirvana. It is also incumbent upon me to say …

But time is running short, and the director of the program fades in the unemotional voice of the American Space Expert, to give another view:

We have recently found that the radio-carbon/90 dating of this material gives us one-two-three years on the relative timescale with a calculated error of plus or minus six point zero. Tensile strength is directly proportional to bulk and destruct temperature demonstrates little resistance. Since this material cannot be milled or rolled, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration considers it unsuitable for the fabrication of nose-cones. It is therefore declassified.

Now for the radio-astronomer’s results:

We have definitely established that it is not a quasi-stellar source of radio propagation, but by employing our double-basin transmitter we have been able to record marked scatter, and it could conceivably be used as a selective reflector, if a substance with these characteristics were needed for advanced and extremely specialized work.

The German Scientist, asked for his opinion again, remarks:

But Kauffer and Blakmann have consistently shown that cellular differentiation can be more accurately demonstrated by high-magnetic, differential illumination and spectroscopic micro-analysis.

The Chairman feels that the time has come to bring the program to a graceful end:

"Ah, well, er. I think that, er, we can all safely conclude that while knowing nothing of the overall picture, all evidence tends to suggest that the specific material in question, while not static and – seemingly – singularly obstructive and of a rather fibrous character, will undoubtedly reveal itself in its own good time: and, indeed, take its rightful place in the scheme of things."

The camera zoom lenses are beginning to retreat as the American Commentator gives his final ringing phrase:

… And will eventually fall before Man’s ever-questing search.

While the credit lists of participants are being rolled across the picture, it is possible to see that the lenses have retracted to such an extent that, for the first time, the whole of the object, not just its skin, is visible. It is a large, African, elephant.

But the Motto of the Institute of Comparative Dermatography now nearly obscures the picture, getting larger as we read:

THE PARTS ARE GREATER THAN THE WHOLE

Salute to the Thief

JUNAID OF BAGHDAD was passing the scene of a public hanging, where a thief was on the scaffold.

Junaid bowed toward the criminal.

Someone asked him:

Why did you do that?

Junaid said:

I was bowing before his single-mindedness. For his aim, that man has given his life.

*   *   *

Show a man too many camels" bones, or show them to him too often, and he will not be able to recognize a camel when he comes across a live one.

(Mirza Ahsan of Tabriz)

HEADQUARTERS, EARTH

Do not tell your secrets to everyone in this headquarters, Earth.

We have surveyed it well. There was nobody to whom to entrust secrets.

(Anwar-i-Suhaili)

The Critic

A NUMBER OF disciples incessantly sang the praises of a certain Sufi teacher.

One day they surrounded the dwelling of a dervish who had criticized him.

They said:

You have attacked and calumniated our teacher. We demand that you retract what you have said.

He answered:

How trivial and shallow is the reasoning of the raw! Return to your master and ask him to tell you why Arif Yahya criticizes him – for you should have done that before coming here, one exciting the other like a pack of wolves, intent only on destruction.

The disciples retreated. When they found a suitable opportunity to talk to Si Mandoub, their mentor, he said:

Arif Yahya opposes me so that the shallow-minded shall be influenced away from me. In this manner, he and I work together, and I am left with more peace to carry on with my undertakings.

*   *   *

The mine is always bigger than the gem.

Proverb

The Materials of the Locality

IBN ASWAD VISITED the Tekkia of Sheikh Halim Unwani in Syria and was much impressed by the extent and dignity of the place, the numbers of servants and the plenitude of disciples.

Sheikh Halim was, however, absent, and Aswad followed him to North Africa, where he had settled for a number of years to spread the Teaching there.

In Morocco he found Halim living in a small house, with a mere shed outside for the exercises. His pupils numbered no more than a handful, and his clothes were of the simplest kind.

Aswad was perplexed and, taking Halim’s closest associate, Mustafa Mahjub, aside, he asked him:

Why does the Sheikh not bring people and wealth from Aleppo and Damascus, and show these people of Africa that he is a man of substance? Why does he not bring droves of disciples from the East, and carpets and workmen, and make a fitting audience-hall?

Mahjub laughed, and then he said:

Our gold is not the same as their gold, as our tongue sounds different from their tongue. Do you not see how our Sheikh talks and dresses like a man of the locality? The crops of the locality, the houses of the locality come from the materials of the locality.

*   *   *

Better to quarrel with a friend than to support enemies.

Proverb

The Strange Becomes Commonplace

A SCHOLAR ASKED the great sage Afzal of Iskandariya:

What can you tell me of Alim Azimi, your teacher, to whom you attribute qualities which have fashioned you?

Afzal answered:

His poetry intoxicated me, and his love of mankind suffused me, and his self-sacrificing services elated me.

The scholar said:

Such a man would indeed be able to fashion angels!

Afzal continued:

"Those are the qualities which would have recommended Alim to you. Now for the qualities which enabled him to help men transcend the ordinary:

Hazrat Alim Azimi made me irritated, which caused me to examine my irritation, to trace its source. Alim Azimi made me angry, so that I could feel and transform my anger. Alim Azimi allowed himself to be attacked, so that people could see the bestiality of his attackers and not join with them. He showed us the strange, so that the strange became common-place and we could realize what it really is.

*   *   *

Whoever has not first dug a well, should not steal a minaret.

Proverb

Invisible Service

AJNABI USED TO give away books, saying:

I have finished with this, perhaps you would like it.

He also gave food to people, saying:

I am not hungry – would you like to eat?

His companion Husseini once said to him:

You never allow people to perceive what you are doing for them. They think that they are getting something which is of no use to you. Therefore they do not prize it.

Ajnabi said:

I do not expect them to prize it. In fact, I do not want them to prize it. I want them to benefit, not to adulate.

Husseini records:

"Ajnabi gave his teachings in the same way, too. Nobody ever knew what they were learning, because he made them possessors of learning in a manner which prevented them from prizing learning. They generally thought that they were taking part in some completely irrelevant activity.

Ajnabi used to say: ‘That portion of learning which people prize is precisely that part which is not doing them any good: like a sweetmeat which is admired but not eaten.’

*   *   *

None meets harm who knows his capacity.

Proverb

Dismissed

ANWAR OF BADAKHSHAN was perplexed when he visited Aleppo and found as Maulana Bahaudin’s representative there a man whom the Maulana had dismissed from his presence several years before.

Anwar, when he returned to Bokhara, asked the Maulana how it could be that someone who had been the target of the teacher’s wrath could find eventual acceptance in such a high position.

The Maulana said:

"The wind blows floating seeds, and makes them fly to wherever they may flourish if the possibility exists. To the outward observer, the wind may appear hostile to the seeds. But what, in such an instance, is the function of the wind, if it is not to provide the