Discourses of Rumi

FIHI MA FIHI V 279discourse 42People who are interested in their scholarly studiesthink that if they faithfully attend our meetingsthey will forget and lose all they have learned. Onthe contrary, when they come here their sciencesacquire soul. For all sciences, when they acquiresoul, are like an empty body that springs to life.The heart of knowledge originates beyond thisworld of letters and language. It comes to us fromthat world where speech is without sound or sign.“And to Moses, God spoke directly.”Well, God did not speak with letters andsounds, with throat and tongue. Letters require athroat and lips to be heard. God is exalted farabove lips, mouth and throat. So prophets in thatworld speak with God in a way that partial intelligencescannot imagine or understand. Yet theprophets come down from that world without lettersinto this world of letters, and become childrenfor the sake of these children. Thus,Mohammed said, “I was sent as a teacher.”