…inwardly we preceded everyone
9 August 2008
If for fruit the gardener
Felt no desire or hope
Why then would He have planted
The root of the tree
****
Inwardly then, that tree arose
From the fruit
Through outwardly the fruit
From the tree arose.
Â
That is why the Prophet declared:
“Adam and all are prophets
Are my descendants
Under one banner
Â
And this too is why Mohammed
The master of all arts, declared:
“Outwardly, we are the last of all,
But inwardly we preceded everyone
Translation: Dr Javad Nurbakhsh
Absolutely brilliant. Great meraphor used to describe something which is hard to understand otherwise.
I guess the original poem is written by Rumi. But for those who don’t know, a clearer mention of the poet’s name in the post would help.