The Generations · The Friends of God
quddisa sirruhu — may his secret be sanctified
His portrait is his lamp: no image survives, and none is needed.
An evil resort sought he that sought this world; a good state sought he that sought the world to come.
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ق - Mathnawi, Book 1. Translation by Reynold A. Nicholson.
The fool's excuse is worse than his crime; the excuse of the ignorant is the poison that kills wisdom.
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ق - Mathnawi, Book 1. Translation by Reynold A. Nicholson.
Behold the state of him who hearkened to the words of his enemy, and the retribution of him who became the friend of the envious one... The state of a Pharaoh who hearkened to Haman, and the state of a Nimrod who hearkened to Satan. Albeit the enemy speak to thee in friendly wise, know (his words to be) the snare, though he speak to thee of grain (bait). If he give thee some candy, regard it as poison; if he do a kindness to thy body, regard it as cruelty.
Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ق - Mathnawi, Book 1. Translation by Reynold A. Nicholson.
