5-292 When he tastes the wine from the cellar of certainty, little by little it will take

its lover there.

5-3355 The true believer is he whose belief makes the unbeliever regretful amidst the
ebb and flow of fortune.

Story:
Bāyazīd and the infidel. [1.1.1].
5-3356 There was a certain infidel67 in the time of Bāyazīd68: a blessed Muslim said to
him,

5-3357 “How would it be if you embraced Islām, so that you may obtain a hundred
salvations and redemptions?”

5-3358 He replied, “If this faith of yours, o disciple, is the same as that which is held
by Bāyazīd, the Shaykh69 of the world,

5-3359 I cannot bear its glowing heat, which is too great for all the strivings of my soul
to reach it.

5-3361 I hold the faith that his faith70 is higher than all others: it is very beautiful,
resplendent and glorious.

5-3363 Again, if indeed the faith which you would have me embrace is your faith, I
have no inclination or desire for it.

5-3364 He who feels a hundred inclinations to believe – that inclination fades as soon
as he sees you71.

5-3365 Because he sees a mere name and no meaning in it, like calling the desert72 a
safe place.

67
The word used in the Persian text is gabr, which originally meant “fire-worshipper” or “Zoroastrian”. By the
time of Ḥażrat Mawlānā Rūmī, the term gabr was applied to anyone who didn’t adhere to Islām. Since gabr had
such a pejorative connotation, in time followers of the Zoroastrian faith were given the respectable name
Zardushtī.
68
The Persian Ṣūfī Master Ḥażrat Bāyazīd-e Basṭāmī, also known as Ḥażrat Abū Yazīd Ṭayfūr al-Bisṭāmī (ca.
804-874 CE), is one of the key figures in the history of Sufism, in that he founded what came to be known as
“the School of Intoxication” (sukr), which flourished in Greater Khurāsān, as opposed to the equally influential
“School of Sobriety” (saḥw), which was founded in Baghdad by the Ṣūfī Master Ḥażrat Junayd al-Baghdādī (ca.
830-910 CE).
69
Shaykh: “spiritual Director” (Nich.). Please note that when a footnote is followed by (Nich.), it means that it
was written by Nicholson.
70
Literally “that Faith of his”.
71
I.e. the Muslims (Nich.).
72
Arabic mafāza = “desert” (Nich.).

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