University of Life - Faculty of Rumi

Bismillah.

O son, 'if you are irritated by every rub, how will you be polished?' So never mind the hard knocks. Life is like that. I will not say that I am proud of the scars on me but I am grateful for every little thing that came my way. Alhamdulillah 'ala kulli hal. Praise be to Allah in all circumstances.

'This discipline and rough treatment are a furnace to extract the silver from the dross.'

'I am amazed at the seeker of purity who when it's time to be polished complains of rough handling. Love is like a lawsuit: to suffer harsh treatment is the evidence; when you have no evidence, the lawsuit is lost. Don't grieve when the Judge demands your evidence; kiss the snake so that you may gain the treasure. That harshness isn't towards you, O son, but towards the harmful qualities within you. When someone beats a rug, the blows are not against the rug, but against the dust in it.' (Mathnawi III, 4008-4012)

Sahl at-Tustari (818 -896 CE), apart from being a Sufi master was also a renowned healer. He could heal people from all sorts of diseases yet when he was stricken with illness, he refused to treat himself, to him 'a strike from the Beloved does not hurt at all!'

O son, we are no Sahl, but over time you will look back at the pains and realize that 'God turns you from one feeling to another and teaches by means of opposites, so that you will have two wings to fly, not one.' So should you falter and get bruised, just get up on your feet, treat the wound and smile for that little 'gift' from God. If someone had pushed you, don't push him back.

'One of the principles of Sufi morality is that they refrain from exacting vengeance. If ill is done to them, they reply with kindness. This is a major principle, for the Prophet s.a.w forbade exacting retribution of evil.' (Ibadi, Manaqib al-Sufiyya)

'The spiritual path wrecks the body and afterwards restores it to health.' O son, my prayers are with you; may you graduate from the school of hardknocks with honors!

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All quotations are from Rumi unless stated otherwise.