Masnavi Quotes

“You attain to knowledge by argument;
You attain a craft or skill by practice;
If voluntary poverty's your choice,
companionship's the way, not hand or tongue.
The knowledge of it passes soul to soul,
not by way of talk or reams of notes.
Its signs are writ upon the seeker's heart,
yet still the seeker cannot ken those signs
until his heart becomes exposed to light
Then God reveals His: Did We not expose? [Qur'an 94:1]
for We've exposed the chambers of your breast
and placed the exposition in your heart”
― Rumi, Masnavi Mawlana Rumi

“With what work at you occupied,
and for what purpose are you purchased?
What sort of bird are you,
and with what digestive are you eaten?
Pass up this shop of hagglers
and seek the shop of Abundance where God is the purchaser [Quran 9:111].
There Compassion has bought
the shabby goods no one else would look at.
With that Purchaser no base coin is rejected,
for making a profit is not the point.

Masnavi 6.1264 – 1267”
― Rumi

“Unchain yourself, my son, escape its hold!
How long will you remain a slave of gold?
-- The Masnavi”
― Rumi, The Masnavi: Book 5

“What are mere pearls when you’ll become the ocean,
And that bright sun with its revolving motion!”
― Rumi, Masnawi

“Outer eyes are the inner eyes’ reflection,
For outer eyes are under their direction....”
― Rumi , Masnawi

“Attraction is possessed by all things here:
Warmth draws warm things, the cold pulls cold things near;
Eternal ones attract each other, while
The worthless just attract the vain and vile;
Those made of fire attract just the same kind;
Those filled with light draw their own sort, you’ll find...”
― Jawid Mojaddedi, The Masnavi, Book Two

“While eyes are shut the pain will not subside,
They yearn to join with light that is outside;
It’s due to your eyes’ light’s attracting pull,
Which seeks light rays as soon as possible.
If your eyes feel some pain while open, then

When blocked of transient light, pain fills your eyes,
So you should open them, if you are wise...”
― Jawid Mojaddedi, The Masnavi, Book Two

“What else are mirrors meant for then
But so each knows himself from other men!’
Your mirrors show the husk and not the kernel;
The soul-revealing mirror is eternal:
This mirror for the soul is the saint’s face,
The one who is beyond all time and space—
‘Heart, seek a mirror of this type!’ I’d scream,
‘Reach for the ocean, and not a mere stream!”
― Jawid Mojaddedi, The Masnavi, Book Two

“Fruits ripen with a little warmth, not fire,
A furnace’s heat fruit does not require....”
― Rumi, Masnawi

“So many prayers request catastrophe,
But God opts not to listen mercifully.”
― Jawid Mojaddedi, The Masnavi, Book Two

“What else are mirrors meant for then,
But so each knows himself from other men....”
― Jawid Mojaddedi, The Masnavi, Book Two

“What else are mirrors meant for then
95
But so each knows himself from other men!’
Your mirrors show the husk and not the kernel;
The soul-revealing mirror is eternal:
This mirror for the soul is the saint’s face,
The one who is beyond all time and space—
‘Heart, seek a mirror of this type!’ I’d scream,
‘Reach for the ocean, and not a mere stream!”
― Jawid Mojaddedi, The Masnavi, Book Two

“A jasper from a pearl you can distinguish
The day belief in your self you relinquish,”
― Jawid Mojaddedi, The Masnavi, Book Two

“From a snake-catcher someone stole a snake;
The fool saw as success this huge mistake
From that snake’s bite its owner thus was spared,
It killed the thief who’d now become ensnared.
The owner saw the thief as he lay dead:

I’d prayed to find this wretch eventually
To claim my snake, then take it home with me
Thank heavens, God chose not to answer it:

So many prayers request catastrophe,
But God opts not to listen mercifully.”
― Jawid Mojaddedi, The Masnavi, Book Two