Discourses of Rumi

FIHI MA FIHI V 297This is excellent indeed, by God. But according tothe Sufis, Abraham’s station is that inward statewhere you should cast yourself into the fire forGod’s sake, reaching this place through work andeffort in God’s name. There, people can sacrificethemselves for the sake of God, their own selveshaving no place in their sight, and they cease totremble for themselves. To perform two inclinationsof prayer at Abraham’s station is excellent,but let the standing be performed in this world,and the bowing be in the other world.The true Kaaba is the heart of the prophets andthe saints, the locus of God’s revelation. Thephysical Kaaba is a branch of that. If it were notfor the heart, of what use would the Kaaba be?The prophets and the saints forsake their owndesire and follow the desire of God. WhateverGod commands, they do. Whoever God deniesgrace, to them the saints are indifferent—indeedin their eyes such a one is an enemy.Into Your hands we give the reins of our heart.Whatever you declare cooked, we declare it burnt!Everything I say is a comparison. Comparisonis one thing, and equivalence is another. We likenGod’s Light to a lamp for the sake of comparison,