Discourses of Rumi

FIHI MA FIHI V 175versal emotion and inner feeling stirs them, sinceout of these words comes a scent of their Belovedand their Quest.The ways may vary, but the goal is one. Don’tyou see that there are many roads to the Kaaba?For some the road is from Rum, for some fromSyria, others come from Persia or China or by seafrom India and Yemen. So if you consider theroads, they are beyond counting, with infinite differences.But when you consider the goal they areall in accord with one desire.The hearts of all are upon the Kaaba. Thehearts are one in their longing and love for theKaaba, and in that there is no room for separation.That love is neither belief nor non-belief, forit has nothing to do with the various roads. Oncewe arrive, this argument and war and those differencesin the roads—this woman saying to thatman, “You are false, you are an infidel,” and thatman saying the same about her—once we arriveat the Kaaba, we realize that such fighting is overthe roads only, and that the goal of all is the same.For instance, a bowl’s spirit is in love with itsmaker, and is a slave to those hands that fashion