Discourses of Rumi

FIHI MA FIHI V 397It was the duty of the Prophet to manifest thepower of God and by preaching to awaken others.It was not his job, however, to bring people tothe stage of being ready to receive God’s truth—that is God’s work. God has two attributes: wrathand loving-kindness. The prophets are theatersfor both. To believers they are a theater of God’slove, and to unbelievers they become a theater forGod’s wrath.Those who acknowledge truth see themselvesin the Prophet, hear their own voice proceedingfrom him, and smell their own scent in his presence.No one denies the reality of their own self.Therefore the prophets say to the community,“We are you, and you are we, there is no strangenessbetween us.” Someone says, “This is myhand.” Nobody asks them for proof, since theirhand is a part of them. But if they say, “So-and-sois my son,” then proof is demanded, for that issomething separate from themselves.