Discourses of Rumi

FIHI MA FIHI V 257Then after a while the revelation came; “You toounsheathe the sword and make war!”Mohammed is not called “unlettered” becausehe was incapable of writing or reading. He iscalled “unlettered” because with him writing andwisdom were innate, not taught. He whoinscribes characters on the face of the moon, issuch a man not able to write? And what is therein all the world that he does not know, seeing thatall people learn from him? What can the partialintellect know that the Universal Intellect doesnot possess?The fact that we compose books and createbuildings is nothing new. We have seen this donebefore, and we merely add to what we havealready seen. But those who bring into this worldsomething new of their own account, they are theUniversal Intellect. We are capable of learningand need to be taught. The Universal Intellect isthe teacher, and is not in need. So, if we investigateall trades, at the root and origin of them allis revelation. We have learned everything from theprophets and the Universal Intellect.When Cain slew Abel and did not know whatto do next, he saw a raven kill another raven, dig