Discourses of Rumi

Many of the terms Rumi uses have a very differentmeaning in their Islamic context than theydo in their Christian sense. For example, the word“faith” amongst many Sufis is much closer towhat we might call “knowingness.” This is notthe same as “belief,” which refers to how a personchooses to see things. The Quakers had aterm known as “convincement” that expressessome of this, but still betrays too much of man’schoice in the matter. As Rumi uses the word“faith,” he is talking more about the effect of havingexperienced something that changes how wesee life, than he is talking about having been soldon some doctrine.Likewise, when Rumi refers to Islam, he istalking about The Way. He is not talking aboutthe preconceived notions that people have aboutIslam today, or even in his day, but the spiritualpath itself and the religious tradition. It is notalways easy to understand this as Rumi meant it,just as Rumi’s use of Mohammed as the Prophetand Voice of God is easily interpreted as traditionalbelief, which is only the outward cloak ofwhat Rumi is really saying. It is just this sort ofxvi