Without your light a great lion is held captive by a rabbit

I was overtaken by these words today hearing Shaykh Hamza Yusuf lecture - "What Happened to Poetry?" - By Shaykh Hamza Yusuf ...

"Without your light a great lion is held captive by a rabbit! ~Rumi~

It’s by the weakness of the people of truth that the people of falsehood stand. Not by their strength, because falsehood has no strength. But when the people of truth are weak, "then a rabbit can hold a lion captive." (Full poem below)

The One Who Wraps Himself  ~Mawalana Rumi~

God called the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ Muzzammil,

“The One Who Wraps Himself,”

and said,

“Come out from under your cloak, you so fond

of hiding and running away.

Don’t cover your face.

The world is a reeling, drunken body, and you

are its intelligent head.

Don’t hide the candle

of your clarity. Stand up and burn

through the night, my prince.

Without your light

a great lion is held captive by a rabbit!

Be the captain of the ship,

Mustafa, my chosen one,

my expert guide.

Look how the caravan of civilization

Has been ambushed.

Fools are everywhere in charge.

Do not practice solitude like Jesus. Be in

the assembly,

and take charge of it.

Transcript for What Happened to Poetry? By Shaykh Hamza Yusuf.

This is called “One Who Wraps Himself” and it’s a commentary on a chapter in the Qur’an, Muzzammmil.

God called the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ Muzzammil,

“The One Who Wraps Himself,”

and said,

“Come out from under your cloak, you so fond

Of concealment and fleeing

Because the Prophet saw loved to go off to the cave and meditate. And so he’s being told now to come back.

Don’t cover your face.

The world is a reeling, drunken body, and you

are its intelligent head.

Don’t hide the candle

of your clarity. Stand up and burn

through the night, my prince.

Without your light

a great lion is held captive by a rabbit!

That’s what Odysseus in one of Shakespeare’s plays says to the Greeks. It is by our weakness that Troy stands, not by their strength. And that’s the reality. It’s by the weakness of the people of truth that the people of falsehood stand. Not by their strength, because falsehood has no strength. But when the people of truth are weak, then a rabbit can hold a lion captive.