The Masnavi: Book Two

292 Pages·2007·1.552 MB·English

by  Rumi, Jawid Mojaddedi

oxford world’s classics
THE MASNAVI
Rumi,known in Iran and Central Asia as Mowlana Jalaloddin Balkhi,
was born in 1207in the province of Balkh, now the border region
between Afghanistan and Tajikistan. His family emigrated when he
was still a child, shortly before Genghis Khan and his Mongol army
arrived in Balkh. They settled permanently in Konya, central Anatolia,
which was formerly part of the Eastern Roman Empire (Rum). Rumi
was probably introduced to Sufism originally through his father,
Baha Valad, a popular preacher who also taught Sufipiety to a group
of disciples. However, the turning-point in Rumi’s life came in 1244,
when he met in Konya a mysterious wandering Suficalled Shamsoddin
of Tabriz. Shams, as he is most often referred to by Rumi, taught
him the profoundest levels of Sufism, transforming him from a pious
religious scholar to an ecstatic mystic. Rumi expressed his new vision
of reality in volumes of mystical poetry. His enormous collection of
lyrical poetry is considered one of the best that has ever been pro-
duced, while his poem in rhyming couplets, the Masnavi, is so revered
as the most consummate expression of Sufimysticism that it is com-
monly referred to as ‘the Quran in Persian’.
When Rumi died, on 17December1273, shortly after having com-
pletedhis work on the Masnavi, his passing was deeply mourned by
the citizens of Konya, including the Christian and Jewish communi-
ties. His disciples formed the Mevlevi Sufiorder, which was named
after Rumi, whom they referred to as ‘Our Lord’ (Turkish ‘Mevlana’/
Persian ‘Mowlana’). They are better known in Europe and North
America as the Whirling Dervishes, because of the distinctive dance
that they now perform as one of their central rituals. Rumi’s death
is commemorated annually in Konya, attracting pilgrims from all
corners of the globe and every religion. The popularity of his poetry
has risen so much in the last couple of decades that the Christian
Science Monitor identified Rumi as the most published poet in
America in 1997. UNESCO has designated the commemoration of
the800th anniversary of Rumi’s birth in 2007as an event of major
international importance.
Jawid Mojaddedi, a native of Afghanistan, is currently Assistant
Professor of Religion at Rutgers University. Dr Mojaddedi’s trans-
lation, The Masnavi: Book One (Oxford, 2004), was awarded the
Lois Roth Prize by the American Institute of Iranian Studies. His
previous books include The Biographical Tradition in Sufism
(Richmond,2001) and, as co-editor, Classical Islam: A Sourcebook of
Religious Literature(London,2003).
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OXFORD WORLD’S CLASSICS
JALAL AL-DIN RUMI
The Masnavi
book two
Translated with an Introduction and Notes by
JAWID MOJADDEDI
1
3
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Typeset by Cepha Imaging Private Ltd., Bangalore, India
Printed in Great Britain
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ISBN978-0-19-921259-0
13579108642
To Dr Javad Nurbakhsh
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Ishould like to express my gratitude to my immediate family, my
friends, and all of the teachers I have studied under. I am also very
grateful for the comments and criticisms offered by readers of initial
drafts of this translation, especially Julie Scott Meisami, Dani Kopoulos,
Daniel Abdal-Hayy Moore, and Dick Davis. Once again, I have been
very fortunate to work with an editor as supportive and cooperative
as Judith Luna. I alone am responsible for any remaining flaws.
CONTENTS
Introduction x
Note on the Translation xxix
Select Bibliography xxxi
A Chronology of Rumi xxxiii
THE MASNAVI
book two
Prose Introduction 3
Exordium 3
Identifying the new moon too soon 10
God mercifully ignores some prayers 11
Jesus’s companion’s foolish request 11
The false servant who would say, ‘God give me strength!’ 12
Why I interrupted the story 14
A king finds his falcon with a decrepit old crone 22
Shaikh Ahmad Khezruya and his sceptical creditors 25
The ascetic’s view of his weeping eyes 29
Blindly expecting a lion to be an ox 32
The Sufis chanted, ‘The ass has gone! The ass has gone!’ 33
The devilish bankrupt and the dull-witted Kurd 37
The folly of thinking, ‘If only . . .’ 45
To murder the mother of all problems 48
A king tests two contrasting slaves 51
Envy of a king’s favourite slave 63
A falcon among the owls 67
A thirsty man loves the splash of bricks in water 71
The thorn-bush planted in the middle of the road 73
viii Contents
Zo’l-Nun’s disciples visit him at the madhouse 82
Loqman’s master’s test for him 86
Solomon and the Queen of Sheba 94
The philosopher’s rejection of a Quranic verse 96
Moses and the shepherd 101
Moses asks God why oppressors seem to win 106
The cure for a man who has swallowed a snake 110
The foolhardy man who trusted a bear’s good intentions 113
The beggar’s two types of blindness 116
Moses and the worshippers of the golden calf 119
Galen’s anxiety over a madman’s admiration 122
Why a bird flew with those of a different feather 123
The Prophet visits his sick Companion 125
God asks Moses, ‘Why didn’t you visit me when
I was sick?’ 126
The gardener who tricked the Sufi, the Sayyed, and
the jurist 126
A master tells Bayazid to circle around him instead
of the Kaaba 129
Why Dalqak chose to marry a whore 136
The master who pretended to be mad 137
A blind beggar rebukes the dog who has attacked him 138
The law-enforcer and the drunkard 140
Satan wakes up Mo’aviya so he can join the congregation
for the dawn prayer 152
The reluctant Judge 160
The advantage of arriving late for prayer 162
Unhelpful advice about a burglar 164
The hypocrites who built the Mosque of Opposition to
the Prophet 165
A man’s search for his lost camel 170
The importance of proper discernment 171
Contents ix
The four Indians who spoilt their own prayers by finding
fault with each other 177
How Ghuzz Turks make an example out of their victims 179
Self-conceit leads to ingratitude for prophets and saints 179
The physician’s diagnosis for an old man 181
Johi’s interpretation of a child’s lament 183
The boy who was terrified of what a huge man wanted
to do to him 185
The archer and the mounted warrior 186
The Bedouin and the philosopher 186
The miracles of Ebrahim-e Adham by the ocean 188
How divine light is bestowed on a mystic 190
False suspicions about a shaikh 194
Sho‘ayb and the man who claimed, ‘God won’t
punish my sins!’ 197
Aisha complains to the Prophet about his performing the
prayer in dirty places 201
The camel and the mouse 202
The miracles of the dervish accused of stealing 204
Some Sufis complain to their master about a fellow Sufi
talking too much 206
Self-evident truths 209
John the Baptist bows to Jesus in Mary’s womb 211
The folly of literalism 213
The tree which gives eternal life 214
Four men fight because they use different words for ‘grapes’ 216
The Prophet as arbitrator 218
Ducklings nurtured by a domestic bird 221
Reactions to the miracles of an ascetic in the desert 223
Explanatory Notes 225
Glossary 253