Discourses of Rumi

FIHI MA FIHI V 177ferent shapes and colors. Then we can call themby name.When believers and infidels sit together and saynothing, they are one and the same. There is noconflict of belief; the heart is a free world. Beliefsare subtle things and cannot be judged. Peoplecan judge by outward expression only, God is thefashioner of our secret hearts. When God uncoversyour own beliefs to you, not a hundred thousandefforts can hide them again. As for the sayingthat God needs no instrument, do you not seehow He reveals those ideas and beliefs in youwithout any instruments, without any pen, withoutany pigment?Those beliefs are like birds of the air, and wilddeer. Until you catch them, it is not allowable bylaw to sell them. It is not in your power to sell abird on the wing, for how can you deliver it?Since it is not in your power, it is not yours to sell.Beliefs then, so long as they are in the heart, arewithout name and token—they cannot be judged.Would any judge say, “In your heart you madethis oath, you had this idea,” or “Come, swear