The day had arrived for the son to return from his studies and the old man waited at the door for his son. When the son came and met his father, the old man looked into his eyes and felt great disappointment. "What have you learnt my son?" he asked, "I have learnt everything there was to be learnt, father", he said. "But have you learnt what cannot be taught?" asked the father. "Go, my son and learn what cannot be taught", said the old man.

The young man went back to his master and asked him to teach him what cannot be taught. "Go away to the mountains with these four hundred sheep and come back when they are one thousand", said the master.

The young man went to the mountains and became a shepherd. There for the first time he encountered a silence. He had no one to talk to. The sheep did not understand his language. In his desperation, he would talk to them but they would look back at him as if to say he was stupid. Slowly but surely, he began to forget all his worldly knowledge, his ego, his pride and he became quite like the sheep and great wisdom and humility came to him.

At the end of two years when the number of sheep had grown to one thousand, he returned to his master and fell on his feet. "Now you have learnt what cannot be taught," said the master.

It is interesting to note that the prophets of Allah Taala (Alayhimus salaam) at some time in their lives, generally before mission, tended to sheep, and other such animals.

Worldly knowledge makes us complacent, which drives us into false feelings. With the knowledge that man has discovered we can only possess the treasures of the human's world, but the real world holds far more secrets. The parable of the boy with the sheep recalls the story of Moses, who despite gaining the earthly knowledge of his age in the court of Pharaoh, it was not enough for Allah (SWT) to entrust him the mission. For decades, he had to live in exile, banished from the palace among the Median people, where he took care of the flock of Jethro like the boy. Then he had to pass trials, let's remember his meeting with Khidhr.

Behold, Moses said to his attendant, "I will not give up until I reach the junction of the two seas or (until) I spend years and years in travel." (Quran 18:60)

This episode in the story of Moses is meant to illustrate four points. 1. Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians. Even so that wisdom did not comprehend everything, even as the whole stock of the knowledge of the present day, in the sciences and the arts, and in literature, (if it could be supposed to be gathered in one individual), does not include all knowledge. Divine knowledge, as far as man is concerned, is unlimited. Even after Moses received his divine mission, his knowledge was not so perfect that it could not receive further additions. 2. Constant effort is necessary to keep our knowledge square with the march of time, and such effort Moses is shown to be making. 3. The mysterious man he meets (18:65), to whom Tradition assigns the name of Khidhr (literally, Green), is the type of that knowledge which is ever in contact with life as it is actually lived. 4. There are paradoxes in life; apparent loss may be real gain; apparent cruelty may be real mercy; returning good for evil may really be justice and not generosity (18:79-82). Allah's wisdom transcends all human calculation.

Worldly knowledge matures when we realize how small we are? How little we can compete with the Creator's knowledge? I am not talking about self-esteem, but about the power of the ego. Because self-esteem must exist. Yes, I have to respect in myself what I have achieved and others have to respect it, too. But I should not believe for a minute that my achievement is more than any product in the creation. That is why one has to go out into the nature and identify him/herself with it. If we live our lives within a man-made institution called society, we will have false ideas about our place in the world. Our real place is revealed in the real world. We need to discover ourselves there, too.

Many hurries through life without even tasting it. They take it as an obligation or a form of fulfillment of duties. They are in constant competition within themselves, as they reach a goal, a new goal is born. They have no time, they are in a hurry, because when they have achieved something, a new object flies in their minds, but it is always a material, worldly object. Getting one more thing, creating another project, gaining more income. Then the hour of death comes and they are disappointed to realize that they had got everything except one: life.

I was discussing with a friend of mine how to move forward in life. He is well-to-do businessman and wanted to invest in a new project. He was beyond feasibility studies, calculations. He also saw the struggle what he has to invest in order to overcome the human incomprehension surrounding him. Finally, he realized that he hadn't thought of something. His life. To sit down with a fishing rod on the riverside and dive with his life into the nature. As we get older, this aspect becomes more and more important. It is a pity that not this need what we start our careers with.

At young age we compete how to absorb more nutrients while we get at old age and we do not know how to get rid of poisons.