Repeating Rumi 4 December 2006
Posted by MOZAFFAR in Law, Misc, MOZAFFAR, Spirituality.trackback
I studied Rumi for a loooong time and was repeatedly blown away by his brilliance. Here is an example: he says that when you see a flaw in your Muslim brother/sister, it’s actually a flaw in yourself (and not in that brother/sister). Think about it. That’s just profound.
Then, later, I started studying Hadith, and discovered that the kernel of each of Rumi’s brilliant points was just reflections/commentary on things that the Prophet -p said. The above line from Rumi is taken from the hadith attributed to the Prophet -p, mentioning that believers are mirrors for each other.
And, many of you know that I repeatedly reference ayahs and hadith without actually telling you that they are ayahs and hadith. Meaning, I’ll mention something that is straight from a hadith, but you will only recognize it if you know that hadith. This way, nobody can complain that I’m making such quotes without being a certified scholar, and nobody can complain that I’m misusing hadith. I learned this technique from studying Rumi (though Rumi was himself a big scholar).
My point in saying all this: assume that 90% of what I’m saying is nicely reworded versions of stuff others have said.
other|matters 
The Prophet saw sometimes would say something like ‘what is wrong with so and so people that they do or say this?’ Obviously he was bringing up a matter generaly to correct it without pointing out those Muslims. He saw a mistake which needed to be correct in a nice way. Was this a fault in himself that he saw?
Someetimes we take this philosophy stuff a litttle toooo far.
masha’allah Omer bhai, this is a great and beautiful insight.
love,
omid
not only the Prophet peace upon him, but many of the sahabah pointed out the faults of muslims.
some ideas strike some as profound, others as mundane, and others as profane. in the end, we’re just judging words based on our own biases and inclinations. they mean nothing in themselves.
visual art is very similar. the artist will obviously have something in mind when creating his/her piece. but that thought process is not necessarily what is evoked when someone else looks at the piece. what an artist considers his most profound piece, critics find hackneyed; what he considers the most run-of-the mill, they see as revolutionary.
some artists, however, will play with the sensibilities of their audiences in order to draw specific reactions. toying with taboos is often the easiest and most effective way, something poets like Rumi in the realm of words learned and employed well, as you know.
and the thing about art, whether visual or poetic, is that if someone finds a piece mundane or profane, those who disagree always have the upper hand with, ‘well, you just don’t get it. you’re not open-minded enough. you’ve missed the whole point.’
of course, let’s not go too far. the Qur’an and the statements of the Prophet peace upon him surely consist of words. the way to avoid the above issues is to rely on scholarship. i’ll leave that general statement dangling. and unjustified.
btw, the hadith that came to my mind was the one about 70 excuses.
but that’s besides my point.