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OCTOBER, 1875.)
BIOGRAPHY OF JELLAL-AL-DIN RUMI.
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thing you behold or taste, that it cannot abide with you, and that you must go to another pluce: therefore you will no longer feel any anxiety."
He was also in the habit of saying that he is a superior man who does not grieve on being affronted, and he a generous man who gives no pain to one deserving to be affronted. Mullana Siraj-al-din ķunavi was a great man of the period, but not on good terms with Jellàl. al-din, and when it was reported to him that the latter had on a certain occasion said, "I agree with all the seventy-three sects of the Muhammadan religion," he determined to get the Mullâ insulted. Accordingly he sent one of his followers, who was a learned man, to ask the Mullâ in a large company whether he had really uttered the above sentiment, and in case of re. ceiving an affirmative reply, to affront him with bad language; but to all his taunts the Mulla only smiled and replied, "I agree also with all you have said," whereupon the man returned ashamed. Sheikh Rak n-al-din a'lla aldoulah stated that he had been much pleased with this meek answer.
He daily asked his servant, "Is there anything in the house to-day?" and on receiving a negative reply he became exhilarated and thankful, saying, “Praise be to God, this day our house is like that of the prophet!" If the servant said, "Whatever we require is at hand in the kitchen," he was displeased and said, "The smell of Pharaoh is rising from this house." He seldom or never used wax-lights in his house, and was contented with oil-lamps, saying, “Those are for kings, and these for devotees (caldk)."
On a certain occasion a company, in which also Sheikh Çadr-al-din Kunavi was present, requusted the Mullâ to officiate as Emâm (leader of the prayers), but he replied, “We are Abdals, we sit down or get up wherever we happen to be; those endowed with Çufism and dignity are worthy to be Emams," and pointing to Sheikh Çadr-al-din as one of these, he continued, “Whoever prays after a pious Emâm is just as if he prayed after the prophet."
One day the Mullâ being present at a devotional exercise, it occurred to a dervish to ask him what Falor is, whereupon the Mulla recited the following quatrain :
"Fakr is essence, all else accident; Faķr is health, all else disease. This world is all deceit and fraud,
FaĶr is of the next a mystery." It has been mentioned above that the Mulla was a disciple of Farid al-din A'ttar; him he recollected even during his last illness, when he said to his companions, "Be not afflicted at my going, because the victorious light will fifty years hence radiate from the spirit of Sheikh Farid-al-din A'ttår. Remember me in whatever state you are, that I may aid you, in whatever garment I am." He also said, "Do not associate with any persons except such as are of your own kind, because on this subject my lord Shams-al-din Tabrizi (may God sanctify his secret!) has said to me that the sign of a disciple (muri) who has found acceptance is that he never associates with strangers, and that when he suddenly falls into their company he feels ill at ease, like a hypocrite in a mosque, or a little child in a school. On his death-bed he also said to his companions, "In this world I have but two connections-the one with my body, and the other with you; this latter connection will not be severed even after I shall, by the favour of God, become separated and isolated from this world.” On the same occasion Sheikh Çadr-al-din also paid him a visit and said, “May God restore you to health quickly!" But the Mallå replied, “Let my restoration to health consist in the removal of the only remaining garment which yet separates the lover from his beloved. Are you not willing that light should be joined to light ?
من شدم عريان زتن او از خیال
الوصال نهايات
در میرا مهم
“Denuded of body am I, and FIA of unreality.
I roam and verge to bounds of union." The last injunction of the Mullâ to his companions was, “I recommend you to fear God secretly and openly, to be frugal in your eating, to sleep little, and to speak little. To abandon everything sinful, to fast and to pray much. To renounce every kind of lust for ever, and to bear insults from everybody. Do not keep up any intercourse with fools and vulgar persons, but cultivate the society of men who are pious and noble. The best men are those who are useful
• Poverty in a religious conse, and he who makes a profession of it is a Faktr.
