Only a heart that understands human frailty can meet the world’s dishonesty with quiet magnanimity. When we absorb small slights without harbouring resentment, we cultivate an inner spaciousness that remains untouched by malice. The Bad Coin reflects on how unconditional acceptance and forgiveness can transform everyday interactions into acts of quiet grace.
“There was once an old Sufi who earned his living by selling all sorts of odds and ends.
It seemed as if the man had no judgment because people would frequently pay him in bad coins and he would accept them without a word of protest. Or people would claim they had paid him when they hadn’t, and he accepted their word for it.
When it was time for him to die, he raised his eyes to heaven and said,
“Oh Allah! I have accepted many bad coins from people, but never once did I judge them in my heart. I just assumed that they were not aware of what they did. I am a bad coin too. Please do not judge me.”
At that moment the old Sufi heard a Voice from the heavens. “How is it possible to judge someone who has not judged others?”
More in The Prayer of the Frog (Volume I) by Anthony de Mello.
Anthony de Mello (1931-1987) was an Indian Jesuit priest and psychotherapist. A spiritual teacher, writer and public speaker, De Mello wrote several books on spirituality and hosted numerous spiritual retreats and conferences. He continues to be known for his storytelling, which drew from the various mystical traditions of both East and West.
Here is another version of the story:
“Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya spoke of shaykh ‘Osman Harbabadi (may God sanctify his innermost consciousness). He said he was a friend of God and a commentator of the Qur’an. He lived in Ghaznin and earned his livelihood by selling a kind of vegetable preparation, cooked in a pot, out of beet-root and turnip.
He then gave a description of the state shaykh ‘Osman was passing through. If a buyer approached him, whatever he had in his pot he gave to him and accepted the coin from him even though it could be a counterfeit one, and did not say anything about it.
When the people came to know he did not differentiate between genuine and counterfeit coins, he started getting more counterfeit coins. But he did not cease to sell the preparation.
When his last days approached he looked towards the heavens and said: “O God, You know it very well that people used to give me counterfeit coins, but I accepted them as genuine ones. I never tuned down anyone’s demand for the preparation I used to sell. Similarly, if my devotion to You has been ‘counterfeit’ in character, be kind and merciful to me and do not reject and return it to me as something unworthy of Your good grace.”
Courtesy: https://sufi-tavern.com/
Shaykh ‘Osman Harbabadi
Shaykh ‘Osman Harbabadi was a celebrated 13th-century Sufi mystic and commentator of the Qur’an who lived in Ghaznin (modern-day Ghazni, Afghanistan. He is remembered for his radical faith, profound detachment from worldly wealth, and deep compassion for humanity.
Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti
Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti (1143-1236), revered as Gharib Nawaz (Comforter of the Poor), was a Persian-born Sufi mystic who established the influential Chishti Order in the Indian subcontinent. Settling in Ajmer, Rajasthan, he dedicated his life to preaching universal peace (Sulh-i-Kul), selfless love, and service to the marginalised, leaving behind a spiritual legacy centred at the world-famous Ajmer Sharif Dargah.
Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya
Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya (1238–1325) was one of the most celebrated Sufi saints of the Chishti Order in India, renowned for his deep emphasis on love, renunciation and service to humanity. Stationed in Delhi, he transformed his khanqah (sufi monastery) into an open sanctuary for people of all faiths, famously teaching that true devotion to God is realised through the selfless relief of human suffering.
Image: India commemorative postage stamps issued in 2012 on the occasion of the 800th Urs of Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti at Dargah Sharif, Ajmer. His tomb is one of the most important religious sites in Sufism.