July 2011

Hunger is a remedy!
by Rumi

Indeed hunger is the sultan of remedies.
Place hunger in the soul--
Regard it not with such contempt!
Hunger makes all unpleasant things pleasant--
But without it, all pleasant things are rejected.

A man was eating bread made from bran.
Someone asked him, "How is it you have an appetite for this?"
He replied, "When hunger has been doubled through patience,
Barley bread becomes halva in my eyes." . . .

God has given hunger to His elect so that
They may become mighty lions.

Mathnavi V: 2832-35, 38
Translation by William C. Chittick
"The Sufi Path of Love"
SUNY Press, Albany, 1983

Don't be afraid of death!
by Rumi

The wise Prophet has said that no one who dies
and dismounts from the steed of the body
feels grief on account of departure and death,
but only for missed opportunities and having failed in good works.
Truly everyone who dies wishes
that their arrival at their destination might have come sooner:
the wicked, in order that their wickedness might have been less;
and the devoted,
in order that they might have reached home more quickly.

*********************************************

Zin be-farmudast ân âgah Rasul
keh har ânke mord o kard az tan nozul
Na-bovad u-râ hasrat-e naqlân o mawt
lik bâshad hasrat-e taqsir o fawt
Har keh mirad khvod tamanni bâshadesh
keh bodi zin pish naql-e maqsadesh
Gar bovad bad tâ badi kamtar bodi
var taqi tâ khâneh zutar âmadi

Mathnawi, V:604-607
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance
Threshold Books, 1996
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra

All material published by Al-Huda.com / And the Message Continues is the sole responsibility of its author's).

The opinions and/or assertions contained therein do not necessarily reflect the editorial views of this site,