Discourses of Rumi

126 V DISCOURSES OF RUMIshown you a hundred thousand times that actualitieshave no causes. This very moment, I couldproduce out of you a hundred thousand sonswithout a wife and without pregnancy. Indeed, ifI make the sign, a whole people will come forth,completely formed and grown. Did I not bringyou into being in the world of spirits without amother or father? Why do you forget thesethings?” The rank and substance of the prophetsand saints and the many states of humanity can beset forth in a parable: Slaves are brought out ofthe heathen lands into the realm of Muslimdom,where they are sold. Some are brought at the ageof five years, some are ten, and some are fifteenyears old. Those who were brought as children,having been nurtured for many years amongstMuslims, completely forget their homeland. Notrace of it remains in their memory. Thosebrought a little older remember a little. Thosemuch older remember much more.In the worldbeyond, all are in the Presence of God. The foodand sustenance there is the speech of God, withoutletters and without sounds. Those who arebrought into this world as children, when theyhear that Speech, remember nothing of their for-