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This test consists of 5 multiple choice questions, 5 short answer questions, and 10 short essay questions.

Multiple Choice Questions

1. Shams asks Rumi who is greater, Muhammad the messenger of God, or ______ a mystic who claimed to be one with God.
(a) Tabriz.
(b) Bestami.
(c) Balkh.
(d) Konya.

2. Rumi instructs us to "consider what the prophets have done. ______ wore fire for an anklet, Moses spoke to the sea."
(a) Abraham.
(b) David.
(c) Solomon.
(d) Joseph.

3. The _________ represents the imagination where the spiritual journey takes place, according to Rumi.
(a) Cave.
(b) Closet.
(c) Ocean.
(d) Orchard.

4. The ________ breath brings a presence, through the head to the heart, with a mantra, "God alone is real."
(a) Inward.
(b) Quiet.
(c) Outward.
(d) Truth.

5. Rumi asserts in his poems that "the miracle of ______ is himself, not what he said or did about the future."
(a) Buddha.
(b) Muhammad.
(c) Gandhi.
(d) Jesus.

Short Answer Questions

1. The Egyptian woman that is in love with Joseph is known as _______, clings to his shirt and tears it from his back.

2. Those who do not wake to the truth, according to Rumi, are those who do not embrace the beauty of __________.

3. ______ was killed on December 5, 1247, after being exiled and returning on several different occasions.

4. Rumi suggests "My _____ is from elsewhere. Whoever brought me here will have to take me home."

5. Rumi asks the reader to let their _______ move them, playing music instead of reading as they go along.

Short Essay Questions

1. What is the profession of Rumi when Barks introduces him at the beginning of this book?

2. What should a person do with their life instead of acting from fear, according to the writings of Rumi?

3. Why was Shams pushed out of the area by the students of Rumi, according to the beginning of the book?

4. What happens with Joseph's shirt when he gives it to his brothers to help their father?

5. How does breathing help to calm a person, according to Barks' thoughts at the beginning of the section?

6. What does Rumi do when he is so impressed with the depth of the knowledge of Shams?

7. After the narrator says they are no religion or culture, not east or west, what does the narrator say they do belong to?

8. What happens when you fast, according to the narrator of the poem, in one of Rumi's writings?

9. What is the story of Ramahrishna that Rumi tells at the start of this section of the book?

10. What doesn't matter in the midst of an orchard in the spring, according to the writings of Rumi?

(see the answer keys)

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