Polish the Mirror...

The generous Prophet said it so well:

"A grain of intelligence is better for you
than fasting and the performance of ritual prayer,"

because intelligence is the substance, the others are contingent:

these two are made obligatory for those who possess the complement,
in order that the mirror might shine brightly.

Purity comes to the heart from piety.

But if the mirror is fundamentally flawed,
it takes the polisher a long time to restore it to purity.

While in the case of the fine mirror,
which is like good soil for planting,
a little polishing is all that's needed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

-- jalaluddin Rumi
Mathnawi V: 454-458
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
(Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra)