Discourses of Rumi

discourse 47God wills both good and evil, but only blesses thegood. His Law both commands and prohibits, butcommandment is only valid when it is opposed tonatural desires. If someone says, “Hungry one,eat sweetness and sugar,” that is not commandment,but a benefaction. Prohibition works in thesame way. No one says, “Don’t eat stones, don’teat thorns,” because there is no need to prohibitwhen there is no desire.Therefore, for commandments and prohibitionagainst evil to do any good, people must desireevil. And to will the existence of people whodesire evil, is to will evil. But God does notapprove of evil, otherwise He would not havecommanded the good. This is like those who liketo teach—they hope their pupils are ignorant, forthey cannot teach unless their pupils need tolearn. To desire a thing is to desire the need forthat thing. But no teacher approves of their students’ignorance, or why would they teach?