The Two Learned Men

T
Once there lived in the ancient city of Afkar two learned men whohated and belittled each other’s learning. For one of them deniedthe existence of the gods and the other was a believer.

One day the two met in the marketplace, and amidst their followersthey began to dispute and to argue about the existence or thenon-existence of the gods. And after hours of contention theyparted.

That evening the unbeliever went to the temple and prostrated himselfbefore the altar and prayed the gods to forgive his wayward past.

And the same hour the other learned man, he who had upheld thegods, burned his sacred books. For he had become an unbeliever.
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