Discourses of Rumi

FIHI MA FIHI V 271“If only, when Our might came upon them,They had been humble!But their hearts were hard.”In other words, they did not understand thatthe answer they received came from the questionthey asked.“And Satan decked out fair to themWhat they were doing.”This means they saw the answer to their questionbut said, “This ugly answer is not appropriateto our fair question.” They did not realize thatsmoke comes from the fuel, not the fire. The drierthe fuel, the cleaner the flame. If you entrust yourgarden to a gardener, and you smell a disagreeableodor, suspect the gardener and not the garden.Someone said, “Why did you kill your mother?”The other answered, “I saw her sleeping witha strange man.” The first person said, “Youshould have killed the stranger.” The second onesaid, “Then I would be killing someone everyday.”Therefore, whatever happens to you, correctyour own self, then you will not have to fight withsomeone every day. If others say, “Everything isfrom God,” we reply: Then to reproach one’s own