Nasreddin
Nasreddin (also commonly spelled
Nasrudin,
Nasr ud-Din,
Nasredin,
Naseeruddin,
Nasruddin,
Nasr Eddin,
Nastradhin,
Nasreddine,
Nastratin,
Nusrettin,
Nasrudin) was a lower
Muslim cleric who lived during the
Middle Ages. His name is often preceded or followed by the title of a religious scholar, theological teacher, or man of wisdom: "Khwaje", "Hodja", "Hodža" "Hoca", "Hogea", "Hodza", "Chotzas", "Mullah", "Mulla", "Molla", "Maulana", "Efendi", "Ependi".
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The ever smiling Khodja - most well known Sufi - riding on his bronze donkey. |
Nasreddin was a
populist philosopher and wise man, remembered for his funny stories and
anecdotes. He often appears as a whimsical character of a large
Persian,
Arab,
Pashto,
Urdu,
Hindi,
Bosnian and
Turkish folk tradition of
vignettes, not entirely different from
zen koans.
Where and when he was born, and where and when he died, are not known with certainty, but he is usually assumed to have lived in
Anatolia. He was born in 1208 in Hortu, a village near the of town
Sivrihisar in what is now Central
Turkey. He moved in 1237 to
Aksehir a local town, to study under the scholars Seyid Mahmud Hayrani and Seyid Haci Ibrahim. He has long been known among various Islamic peoples. Possibly due to the fact that his stories are shared among pilgrims to
Mecca, his humor is familiar, under different names, to people from
China,
Central Asia,
India, and
Morocco. There is a modern tomb dedicated to him in the city of
AkÅŸehir in
Turkey. He is also the symbol of
AkÅŸehir, which hosts several statues of Nasreddin Hoca and an
international festival dedicated to him. The city of
Bukhara in
Uzbekistan also has a statue of him riding his donkey backwards and grasping its tail (as he is traditionally depicted), and journals bear his name in
Baku (
Azerbaijan) and
Tabriz (
Iran).
The year 1996 was proclaimed "Nasreddin Hoca year" by
UNESCO.
The anecdotes attributed to him reveal a satirical personality with a biting tongue that he was not afraid to use even against the most tyrannical
sultans of his time. He is the symbol of both the
Central Asian style satirical comedy and the rebellious feelings of people against the dynasties that once ruled this geography.
Some mystic traditions use jokes, stories and poetry to express certain ideas, allowing the bypassing of the normal discriminative thought patterns. The rationality that confines and objectifies the thinking process is the opposite to the intuitive,
gestalt mentality that the mystic is attempting to engage, enter and retain.
By developing a series of impacts that reinforce certain key ideas, the rational mind is occupied with a surface meaning whilst other concepts are introduced. Thus
paradox, unexpectedness, and alternatives to convention are all expressed. Although there are several books that attempt to put together the many jokes attributed to him, most people encounter his jokes in the context of their daily lives. Often, a Nasreddin joke is told by one party when the other party makes the kind of mistake that Nasreddin had parodied.
Some tales of Nasreddin are also adapted and used as
teaching stories by followers of
Sufism. This is such a common practice that, given the nature of many of Nasreddin's jokes, multiple interpretations (or several 'layers' of meaning) are to be expected.
Idries Shah, a well-known Sufi and writer, published a number of collections of Nasrudin stories (see list below), and suggested that the stories' various layers of meaning have a teaching-effect.
In some
Bulgarian folklore tales originated during the
Ottoman rule, the name appears as an
antagonist to a local wise man, named
Hitar Petar (Хитър Петър, meaning "cunning Peter"). In
Sicily the same tales involve a man named
Giufà .
While Nasreddin is mostly known as a character from anecdotes, later whole novels and stories have been written.
Two sides of a river
:Nasrudin sat on a river bank when someone shouted to him from the opposite side::- "Hey! how do I get across?":- "You are across!" Nasrudin shouted back.
Whom do you trust
:A neighbour comes to the gate of Nasreddin Hoja's yard. The Hoja goes out to meet him outside.:"Would you mind, Hoja," the neighbour asks, "to lend me your donkey today? I have some goods to transport to the next town.":The Hoja doesn't feel inclined to lend out the animal to that particular man, however; so, not to seem rude, he answers::"I'm sorry, but I've already lent him to somebody else.":Suddenly the donkey can be heard braying loudly behind the wall of the yard.:"You lied to me, Hoja!" the neighbour exclaims. "There it is behind that wall!":"What do you mean?" the Hoja replies indignantly. "Whom would you rather believe, a donkey or your Hoja?"
The End of The World
:On a certain day, some of Nasreddin's disciple asked him "Master, tell us about the end of the world."
Nesreddin asked "Which end of the world, the greater or the lesser?"
This perplexed his followers and they debated among themselves. Finally they asked, "Master, what is the lesser end of the world?"
Nesreddin replied "The lesser end of the world will be when my wife dies."
His followers then asked "And the later end of the world?"
"Oh," said the master, "that will be when I die."
A Perfect Woman
:"Why aren't you married, Master?" a disciple once asked Nasreddin.
Nasreddin replied "All my life I was looking for a perfect woman."
The young man shook his head and sighed with sympathy, "I guess you haven't found one yet."
"No, a few years ago I met a woman who was perfect in every way," said Nasreddin. "She was kind, beautiful and intelligent. Unfortunately, she was looking for a perfect man."
* The Exploits of the Incomparable Mulla Nasrudin, by
Idries Shah* The Subtleties of the Inimitable Mulla Nasrudin, by Idries Shah
* The Pleasantries of the Incredible Mullah Nasrudin, by Idries Shah
*
Islamic comedy*
Free ebook of Nasreddin Hoca at
Project Gutenberg* http://www.nasruddin.org âœ"
* http://www.nasreddinhoca.org/ (in Turkish)
*
Jokes of Nasreddin*
Another collection of jokes*
Booklist comprising important collections of Nasreddin Stories*
"Nasreddin Hodja. Tales of the Turkish Trickster retold by D. L. Ashliman"
