Discourses of Rumi

Even today, Rumi challenges many of our basiccultural assumptions, and often in ways we maynot notice if we aren’t careful. It is easy to makethe mistake of rejecting an idea on the groundsthat it is out of date, or that it sounds merely likea traditional, orthodox opinion. I would cautionabout ever jumping to this conclusion with Rumi,since you will more likely find that he has caughtyou making the very same error.For example, in discourse Twelve, Rumi asksthe question, “If a saint, who carries God’s secretjewel [spiritual grace], strikes someone andbreaks their nose and jaw, who is the wrongedparty?” Rumi claims it is the saint who has beenwronged. “Since the saint is consumed in God,their actions are God’s actions. God is not calleda wrongdoer.”At first glance, this smacks of religiouszealotry. The same sort that brought about thekillings and murders of the Inquisition. No differentthan any other self-justified excuse.Anyone can blame God for their own choices,we say. But read Rumi’s words closely; he is nottalking about justifying violence. He is askingxii