The king is dead..long live the king

Some may be surprised that the correct principle says “Long live the king… The king is dead,” because death follows life. However, this proverb means that the royal class calls for their current king to die… Long live their next king… That is, they are the same class that carries in their coat pocket an immortal poem that they once composed in their life or copied from previous poets. As soon as an official comes, he takes it out and reads its content without feeling or sensing its significance, but for him it is appropriate for the position in which he recites it.

One day, one of the responsible brothers told me: Some of the leaders in the department where I was working sensed that a radical change was coming towards them, targeting the top leaders. The entity of the organization was turned upside down, and speculations and assumptions began to spread like wildfire. Everyone was putting forward a name to run for the department, and my name was being put forward with whoever would take over the department. At the time, I myself was ruling that out, despite hearing my name repeated on some tongues. One morning, while I was in my office, a colleague with whom I had no relationship at all other than exchanging greetings if we suddenly met in one of the department’s corridors, and he was at a level no less than mine, I saw him enter this morning with a broad smile, embrace me, and exchange with himself expressions of praise for my good character, tact, and perfection, which I do not think I can achieve. I will not hide from you, he tells me, that I was initially overcome by pride in sin and believed the series of compliments he gave me, and I was almost overcome by arrogance, and I carried several expressions of I wrote down his words in my memory so that I could tell them to my loved ones and friends, including you – that is, me – but I was certain that our friend was nothing but one of those flatterers when he finished his conversation, and he began to complain about his condition, about not sleeping all night last night, so I realized the matter of my praise from him, and I magnified the matter from him and I was certain that it was a serious matter that prevented him from sleeping last night, so he said to me: Because my wife did not sleep, so I said: Perhaps the obstacle is good, so he said: Next to our house there is a garbage can that mosquitoes breed on, so I thought of words that he did not hear: What does that have to do with me?! He said: The mosquitoes bit my wife and she stayed up all night, and I consoled her, because I cannot see anyone in pain, and he began to tell stories and tales about himself that he is one of the romantics who feels the simplest things. At that moment, he saw me with my mouth open, so he quickly asked me: Don’t you know anyone in the municipality who moves the garbage can away from my door? I felt embarrassed and said, “You are right, Abu Hanifa, when you said: It is time for Abu Hanifa to stretch his legs.” I said, “Do you know his story?”

Abu Hanifa sensed the deficiency of the mind of the person sitting before him at that moment. After he asked him a question that showed ignorance and lack of knowledge and awareness, this was his statement.

In any case, the presence of these people – the flatterers, the climbers, the hypocrites – among us is a way of life, because life is not sweet without them. The ignorant is he who is deceived by their adornment and good words and follows their approach and their desires, and the intelligent is he who knows the truth of their falsehood and recognizes their secrets and avoids their plots before their traps catch him, starting with the garbage can and ending with their slogan that they adopt: The king is dead… Long live the king.

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