Discourses of Rumi

270 V DISCOURSES OF RUMIvein is the answer. Examining the urine is anunspoken question and answer. To cast a seedinto the ground is a question: “Will you givefruit?” The growing of the tree is an answer withouta tongue. Because the answer is wordless, thequestion must be wordless, too.A king read three letters from the same man,but did not answer. The subject wrote a complaint,saying, “Three times now I have petitionedyour majesty. Let your majesty at least saywhether my petition has been accepted or rejected.”The king wrote on the back of the letter, “Doyou not know that refusing an answer is ananswer itself, and that the answer to a fool issilence?”A tree’s not growing is a refusal to answer, andis an answer itself. Every motion people make is aquestion. Whatever happens to them, whethersorrow or joy, is an answer. If they hear a pleasantanswer, they show their thanks. Thanks isexpressed by asking the same kind of questionagain. If they hear an unpleasant answer, theyquickly ask God’s forgiveness and do not repeatthat kind of question.