Discourses of Rumi

FIHI MA FIHI V 231In every shop or potion, every merchandise ortrade, the end of the thread for each one of theseis the need of the human spirit. Until the needarises, the end of that thread is hidden. With everyreligion, every faith, every grace, every miracle,and all the states of the prophets—the end of eachthread is within us. Until the need appears, theend of that thread remains invisible.“All things are numbered and clearly recorded.”Someone asked: “Is the source of good and evilone thing or two?”Rumi said: From the point of view that theyare continually at war with one another, theanswer is obviously two—since a person cannotbe opposed to himself. But, from the viewpointthat evil is inseparable from good—for good is thegiving up of evil, and the giving up of evil isimpossible without evil, and were it not for theincitement of evil, no one would ever abandon thegood—from this point of view they are not two.The Magians said that Yazdan is the creator ofgood things and Ahriman is the creator of eviland hateful things. But desirable things are never