*Humorous*

An Indian went to an Arab country. There, he was sitting in a park surrounded by grand mansions. Meanwhile, he noticed an Arab smoking a cigarette, then another, and after a short while, another. Seeing this, the Indian asked the Arab, "How many rupees worth of cigarettes do you smoke daily?" He mentioned a certain amount. The Indian calculated: this much in a day, this much in a week, this much in a month, and this much in a year; it became a huge amount. Then he said to the Arab, "If you didn't smoke cigarettes, how much money would you have saved, with which this mansion would be yours, and that mansion would also be yours!" The Arab asked him, "Do you smoke cigarettes?" The Indian replied, "No." The Arab said, "Then this mansion must be yours, and that mansion must also be yours?" Then he added, "This mansion is also mine, and that one is also mine. All these mansions belong to me, despite so much smoking."

Malfoozat-e-Faqih-ul-Ummat, Part 4, Page 50

*Lesson*

When advising or cautioning someone about something, one should speak with such wisdom and logic that the intellect accepts it. Here, because building such huge mansions just by saving cigarette money was against common sense, the Arab’s intellect did not accept it. Instead, if he had said, "What will be the state of your health due to so much smoking? If not today, then tomorrow it will have a very bad effect on your health," then this point would have appealed to the intellect, and it is possible that the Arab would have given up smoking.

S. Z. Taptori, 10th Rabi-ul-Awwal 1447 AH