Discourses of Rumi

FIHI MA FIHI V 199No one can eat wealth. Wealth is sought forwhat it brings, not what it is. With wealth peoplepurchase horses, servant-girls and slaves. Thenthey display these riches so that others will praiseand applaud them. Therefore, it is the world itselfthat is held up so high, and it is this world that ispraised and applauded.Sheik Nassaj of Bukhara was an honored, spiritualman. Learned and great people came to visithim and knelt at his feet. The Sheik was unlettered,but they loved to hear him expounding onthe Koran and Traditions of the Prophet. Hewould say, “I do not know Arabic. Translate averse from the Koran so I can tell you its meaning.”They would translate the verse. Then hewould begin to explain and reveal the truth in it.He would say, “The Prophet was in such and sucha situation when he uttered this verse. The circumstancestook place like this…” And he woulddescribe in detail the spiritual level of that situation,the ways leading up to it, and how theProphet gained that state.One day a descendant of Ali was praising a certainjudge while standing next to the judge, say-