The Names of Things

You should try to hear the name He has for things. There is something in the phrase: “He taught him names.” We name everything according to its outward form; He names it according to the batin, to what is inside.Moses waved his stick; he thought it was a staff, Inside its name was “serpent.”We thought the name of Umar was “idolater,” but in eternity his name is “the true believer.” No one knows our hidden name until our last breath goes out.

[Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi]