Discourses of Rumi

discourse 13Mohammed said, “The night is long, do notshorten it with your sleep. The day is bright, donot darken it with your sins.”The night is long for you to voice your inmostsecrets and ask for your needs without the distractionof others, without the disturbance offriends and foes. You are granted peace and privacyas God draws down the veil before the eyesof others, so your acts may be honest, truthfuland done wholly for God.At night the hypocrite is exposed. The worldmay be hidden by the dark and shown clearly bythe light of day, but at night the hypocrite standsrevealed from the sincere.“Since nobody is watching,” the hypocritesays, “for whose sake should I pretend?”Somebody is watching, but the hypocrite’s eyesare closed and cannot see that One.In times of distress everyone calls for help; intimes of toothache, and earache, in doubt, fearand insecurity. In secret everyone calls out hoping