Page 197 - The Book of Rumi

But before he left, he couldn’t help saying to the woman, whom he fi nally
understood to be the shaykh’s wife: “The light of your husband has reached
East and West, yet you have no share of it. I will not return home because of
your malicious words, and I will not give up my search for the shaykh. There
are many bats like you who wish to smother the light of God, but I shall not
fall for your false words. Farewell, and may God save your pitiful soul!”
Having vented some of his anger, the murid began asking everyone he
came by for the shaykh’s whereabouts. It took a while, but in the end one per-
son was able to direct him to a nearby forest, where the shaykh was apparently
gathering fi rewood. The young man hurried toward the woodland outside
town while wondering why on earth the shaykh had married and remained

married to such a vampire of a woman. He was baffled that two such opposite
poles of the spectrum could live compatibly with each other.
However, he quickly extinguished this train of thought, as he felt that he
was beginning to doubt the great man without knowing the full story. As he
thus reasoned with himself, he suddenly saw an elderly man comfortably sit-
ting on top of a heap of fi rewood that was in turn stacked on the back of a
lion, using a huge snake as a whip to control the beast.
“Be careful, young man, to not let your thoughts wander too far from the
truth,” said the old man, having read the novice’s mind.
By the time the shaykh reached the murid, he could construe exactly what
had been exchanged between him and his wife, and he recounted the conversa-
tion to the young man, who listened in awe.
“I don’t tolerate her behavior simply to satisfy my own ego,” said the
shaykh. “Had I less patience, how could I have tamed a lion? I’m not merely
half-conscious of God’s will, nor do I allow myself to be influenced by what

people say or think. My entire being is under the command of the Almighty,
and I give up my life gladly for Him. I don’t tolerate her and others like her
for worldly reasons; I put up with them so others may see how magnanimous
my God has made me!”
Giving himself up completely to the will of his revered shaykh, the young
murid felt his heart expand with light as he knelt before the great man and
his obedient lion.

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