Rumi’s Story - the Lion and the Beast

Michael Arceo

Faith And Islam        

Professor Lipowitz

November 25th, 2017

Rumi’s Story

The Lion and The Beast

        After reading Rumi’s story, I found that the lions prefer free will while the other animals are follower of predestination. The lion is a leader and has faith in God. He emphasizes in line 915 that its is important to follow and do right in the name of God but one has to do for ones self to reassure one will be in a good position for what may transpire.

On line 920 it says “don’t run from snakes straight to a dragons lair!”. Addressing, any fear or problem is best because if you run from your problems you will find yourself facing an new one entirely. I find that the other animals are relying solely on God and to be at his commands because it will mitigate the fear and stresses of life. Line 935-940, reads, “he’ll give you hints of secrets that he masks, lift off your burden, and give you other tasks”.

        Both arguments have equally illustrated strong points. I find that both perspectives resonate with me. In life I believe strongly that you have initiative and hunger to want to make the most of life and what ever it throws your way. As important as having initiative is, one will always be in a situation of having faith in the outcome of a challenging situation. For example, if you give a helping hand to someone in need and find out that after you helped them they encountered another hurdle due to an uncontrollable circumstance. At this given time most of us would probably say “ I did my best to help him/her, I hope that everything works out”. The I hope that everything works out” part is asking to either a higher being or the universe for most positive outcome in a situation like this. Ultimately, we can only strive to do our best and despite for any failures, we need to hope, wish, or pray for the best possible outcome.