Discourses of Rumi

discourse 20Rumi said: Night and day you are at war,attempting to reform the character of the oppositesex, to cleanse their impurity and to correct theirfaults. It is better to cleanse yourself through themthan trying to cleanse them through yourself.Reform yourself by means of them. Go to themand accept whatever they may say, even if fromyour viewpoint their words sound absurd orunfair.It was on account of this truth thatMohammed said, “There is no monkhood inIslam.” The way of monks is solitude, dwelling inmountains, men not living with women, and givingup the world. God showed the Prophet astraight and hidden way. What is that way?Marriage, so that we can endure the trials of livingwith the opposite sex, to listen to theirdemands, for them to ride roughshod over us, andso in this way to refine our own character.