Sheep Mentality

Sheep mentality:

Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi wrote 1,000 years ago:

رَأَيْتُ الْعَتَّابِيَّ يَأْكُلُ خُبْزًا عَلَى الطَّرِيقِ بِبَابِ الشَّامِ ، فَقُلْتُ لَهُ : وَيْحَكَ ، أَمَا تَسْتَحِي ؟ فَقَالَ لي : أَرَأَيْتَ لَوْ كُنَّا فِي دَارٍ فِيهَا بَقَرٌ ، أَكُنْتَ تَحْتَشِمُ أَنْ تَأْكُلَ وَهِيَ تَرَاكَ ؟ فَقُلْتُ : لا ، قَالَ : فَاصْبِرْ حَتَّى أُعَلِّمَكَ أَنَّهُمْ بَقَرٌ ، ثُمَّ قَامَ فَوَعَظَ وَقَصَّ وَدَعَا حَتَّى كَثُرَ الزِّحَامُ عَلَيْهِ ، ثُمَّ قَالَ لَهُمْ : رُوِيَ لَنَا مِنْ غَيْرِ وَجْهٍ أَنَّ مَنْ بَلَغَ لِسَانُهُ أَرْنَبَةَ أَنْفِهِ لَمْ يَدْخُلِ النَّارَ ، قَالَ : فَمَا بَقِيَ مِنْهُمْ أَحَدٌ إِلا أَخْرَجَ لِسَانَهُ يُومِئُ بِهِ نَحْوَ أَرْنَبَتِهِ وَيُقَدِّرُهُ ، هَلْ يَبْلُغُهَا ؟ فَلَمَّا تَفَرَّقُوا قَالَ لِي الْعَتَّابِيُّ : أَلَمْ أُخْبِرْكَ أَنَّهُمْ بَقَرٌ

Al-Warraaq said:

“I saw Al-‘Attaabi eating on the street at the gate of Shaam (Damascus) (it was considered shameful to eat outside in those times).

So I said to him: “Woe to you! Have you got no shame?!”

He said, “Suppose you were in a shed where only cows are present. Would you feel any shame if you ate in front of them?”

I replied: “no.”

He said, “OK, hold on … I’ll prove to you that these are all cows.”

Then he got up and called people together and said to them: “It has been narrated to us via various chains that anyone whose tongue can reach the top of his nose, he will not enter the Hellfire.”

There was no one among them except that he stuck out his tongue to touch his nose with it…

When the crowd broke up, he said to me: “See? Didn’t I tell you that these were all cows?”

[“Al-Jaami li Akhlaq”, 1533].