This would I have you remember in remembering me:
That which seems most feeble and bewildered in you is the strongest and most determined.
Is it not your breath that has erected and hardened the structure of your bones?
And is it not a dream which none of you remember having dreamt, that builded your city and fashioned all there is in it?
Could you but see the tides of that breath you would cease to see all else,
And if you could hear the whispering of the dream you would hear no other sound.

But you do not see, nor do you hear, and it is well.
The veil that clouds your eyes shall be lifted by the hands that wove it,
And the clay that fills your ears shall be pierced by those fingers that kneaded it.
And you shall see
And you shall hear.
Yet you shall not deplore having known blindness, nor regret having been deaf.
For in that day you shall know the hidden purposes in all things,
And you shall bless darkness as you would bless light.

After saying these things he looked about him, and he saw the pilot of his ship standing by the helm and gazing now at the full sails, and now at the distance.
And he said:
Patient, over patient, is the captain of my ship.
The wind blows, and restless are the sails;
Even the rudder begs direction;
Yet quietly my captain awaits my silence.
And these my mariners, who have heard the choir of the greater sea, they too have heard me patiently.
Now they shall wait no longer.
I am ready.
The stream has reached the sea, and once more the great mother holds her son against her breast.

This would I have you remember in remembering me:
That which seems most feeble and bewildered in you is the strongest and the most determined.

Almustafa is giving his last words to the people amongst whom he has dwelt for twelve years. But such is the compassion of the man of wisdom that, although he was ignored, neglected, laughed at – and sometimes even condemned – he still feels a great love and a great compassion for the same people who have always misbehaved with him.

When al-Hillaj Mansoor, a Sufi mystic, was killed by the fanatics and the bigots, there were thousands of people who could not believe that when a man is being killed in such a cruel way – not even Jesus was killed in such a cruel way – he can stand aloof. First they cut off his legs, then they cut off his hands, then they took his eyes out – piece by piece. But all this time, when blood was flowing from every part of his body, he was smiling. Somebody asked, “Why are you smiling?”

He said, “I am smiling because you don’t know what you are doing, you are fast asleep; if you had been awake, you would have understood my smile. My smile indicates that you are not killing me; you are killing yourself. By destroying my body I am not destroyed, but by destroying my body you are destroying the only example you had amongst you of your future glory, of your future growth, of your future actualizations.