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Jalal al-Din Rumi, Maulana and Redhouse, James W. (James William), Sir
One of Jelāl’s disciples died, and there was a consultation among his friends as to whether he should be buried in a coffin or without one.
Another disciple, after Jelāl had been consulted, and had told them to do as they pleased, made the observation that it would be better to bury their relative without a coffin. On being asked why, he answered: “A mother can better nurse her child, than can her child’s brother. The earth is the mother of the human race, and the wood of a coffin is also the earth’s child; therefore, the coffin is the man’s brother. Man’s corpse should be committed, then, not to a coffin, but to mother earth, his loving, affectionate parent.”
Jelāl expressed his admiration for this apposite and sublime doctrine, which, he said, was not to be found written in any then extant book.
The name of the disciple who made this beautiful remark was Kerīmu-’d-Dīn, son of Begh-Tīmūr.