The Mathnawi of Jalaluddin Rumi

By this unrighteousness he makes a hundred parties (of people) suspicious, he causes the generous and abstinent to be in ill repute.

❦195. (But) notwithstanding that he weaves crookedly, in the end the grace of God will purge him of all this (hypocrisy).
His (God's) mercy takes precedence (over His wrath) and bestows on that treachery (hypocrisy) a light that the full-moon does not possess.
God cleanses his effort of this contamination: the (Divine) Mercy washes him clean of this folly.
In order that His great forgivingness may be made manifest, a helmet (of forgiveness) will cover his (the hypocrite's) baldness.
The water rained from heaven, that it might cleanse the impure of their defilement.

How the water cleanses all impurities and then is cleansed of impurity by God most High. Verily, God most High is exceeding holy.

❦200. When the water had done battle (in its task of ablution) and had been made dirty and had become such that the senses rejected it,
God brought it back into the sea of Goodness, that the Origin of the water might generously wash it (clean).
Next year it came sweeping proudly along. “Hey, where hast thou been?” “In the sea of the pure.
I went from here dirty; I have come (back) clean. I have received a robe of honour, I have come to the earth (again).
Hark, come unto me, O ye polluted ones, for my nature hath partaken of the nature of God.

❦205. I will accept all thy foulness: I will bestow on the demon purity like (that of) the angel.
When I become defiled, I will return thither: I will go to the Source of the source of purities.
There I will pull the filthy cloak off my head: He will give me a clean robe once more.
Such is His work, and my work is the same: the Lord of all created beings is the beautifier of the world.”
Were it not for these impurities of ours, how would the water have this glory?

❦210. It stole purses of gold from a certain One: (then) it runs in every direction, crying, “Where is an insolvent?”
Either it sheds (the treasure) on a blade of grass that has grown, or it washes the face of one whose face is unwashed,
Or, porter-like, it takes on its head (surface) the ship that is without hand or foot (helplessly tossing) in the seas.
Hidden in it are myriads of salves, because every salve derives from it its nature and property.
The soul of every pearl, the heart of every grain, goes into the river (for healing) as (into) a shop of salves.

❦215. From it (comes) nourishment to the orphans of the earth; from it (comes) movement (growth) to them that are tied fast, the parched ones.
When its stock (of spiritual grace) is exhausted, it becomes turbid: it becomes abject on the earth, as we are.

How the water, after becoming turbid, entreats God Almighty to succour it.

(Then) from its interior it raises cries of lamentation, saying, “O God, that which Thou gavest (me) I have given (to others) and am left a beggar.
I poured the (whole) capital over pure and impure (alike): O King who givest the capital, is there any more?”
He (God) saith to the cloud, “Bear it (the water) to the delectable place; and thou too, O sun, draw it up aloft.”

❦220. He maketh it to go diverse ways, that He may bring it unto the boundless sea.
Verily, what is meant by this water is the spirit of the saints, which washes away your dark stains.
When it is stained dark by (washing) the treason of the inhabitants of the earth, it returns to Him who endows Heaven with purity.