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THE MASNAVI
Rumi, known in Iran and Central Asia as Mowlana Jalaloddin
Balkhi, was born in 1207 in 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
Sufi piety to a group of disciples. However, the turning-point in
Rumi’s life came in 1244, when he met in Konya a mysterious
wandering Sufi called Shamsoddin of Tabriz. Shams, as he is most
often referred to by Rumi, taught him the most profound 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 con-
sidered one of the best that has ever been produced, while his poem
in rhyming couplets, the Masnavi, is so revered as the most con-
summate expression of Sufi mysticism that it is commonly referred
to as ‘the Koran in Persian’.
When Rumi died, on 17 December 1273, shortly after completing
his work on the Masnavi, his passing was deeply mourned by the
citizens of Konya, including the Christian and Jewish communities.
His disciples formed the Mevlevi Sufi order, 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 cor-
ners 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 him as the most published poet in America in 1997.
Jawid Mojaddedi, a native of Afghanistan, read Middle Eastern
Studies at the University of Manchester. He has taught Arabic and
Islamic Studies at the University of Manchester and the University
of Exeter, and has served as an editor of Encyclopaedia Iranica at
the Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University. He is cur-
rently Assistant Professor of Religion at Rutgers University.
Dr Mojaddedi’s 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 one
Translated with an Introduction and Notes by
JAWID MOJADDEDI
1
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Data available
ISBN 0–19–280438–3
135 79108642
Typeset in Ehrhardt
by RefineCatch Limited, Bungay, Suffolk
Printed in Great Britain by
Clays Ltd, St Ives plc
This translation is dedicated to the memory of
MR NIKTAB
(d.12 May 2003)
and
JERRY CLINTON
(d.7 November 2003)
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Ishould like to express my gratitude to all those who have helped
to make it possible for me to produce this translation of Rumi’s
Masnavi. The teachings of Dr Javad Nurbakhsh have given me
the essential background knowledge to understand and appreciate
the message of this Persian Sufi masterpiece. Edmund Herzig, Paul
Luft, and Colin Turner taught me Persian language and literature at
the University of Manchester. The late Norman Calder taught me to
appreciate traditional verse forms and convinced me that the
Masnavi should be translated into iambic pentameters. With
remarkable sensitivity and patience, the late Jerry Clinton taught me
how to translate into verse. I received invaluable encouragement
from J. Christoph Bürgel, Dick Davis, Simin Nabavi, Alireza
Nurbakhsh, and Michael Sivori. Julie Scott Meisami offered many
insightful criticisms and suggestions that have helped to improve
this work significantly, as well as to increase my own understanding
of the poetry. Andrew Rippin generously took on the lion’s share of
the responsibility for a project in which I collaborated at the same
time as producing this translation and working as a full-time editor
of Encyclopaedia Iranica. My colleagues at the Center for Iranian
Studies of Columbia University helped make that experience
rewarding. After I discovered Rumi when I was a teenager, it was my
mother who first nurtured my enthusiasm and interest in his poetry
and the Sufi tradition which he represents. I would also like to thank
my brother Anis, who has been a major source of inspiration over the
past year, and Negin for her loving support and companionship.
CONTENTS
Introduction xi
Note on the Translation xxvii
Select Bibliography xxix
A Chronology of Rumi xxxi
THE MASNAVI
book one
Prose Introduction 3
The Song of the Reed 4
The Healing of the Sick Slave-Girl 6
The Bald Parrot and the Monk 19
The Jewish Vizier who Deceived the Christians into
Following him and Destroyed them 23
The Description of Mohammad in the Gospels 47
The Jewish King who Tried to Destroy Christians with
hisfire 48
The Man who Mentioned Mohammad’s Name
with a Smirk 52
How a Hare Killed the Lion that had been Tormenting
all the other Animals 57
The Man who saw the Angel of Death 61
The Interpretation of the Fly in a Drop of
Donkey’s Urine 69
Solomon and the Hoopoe 76
Adam’s Fall 78
The Greater Jihad 86
Omar and the Emissary from Byzantium 88
Adam’s Superiority to Satan 93
viii Contents
‘He is with You Wherever You may be’ 95
‘Let Whoever Wants to Sit with God Sit with the
Sufis’ 96
The Escape of the Merchant’s Parrot 97
‘If Mystics Drink Poison it will Become an Antidote’ 100
Moses and the Magicians 101
God’s Jealousy 110
The Harm in Being Venerated by People 115
‘What God Wills Happens’ 117
The Old Harpist 119
‘The Special Breaths Sent by God’ 121
Aisha and the Unseen Rain 124
‘Other Skies beyond These’ 126
‘Take Advantage of the Coolness of the Spring’ 127
The Moaning Pillar 131
The Gravel that Affirmed Mohammad’s
Prophethood 133
The Prayer of the Angels in Favour of Big Spenders 137
The Caliph Who Was More Generous than Hatem Ta(cid:1)i 139
The Poor Bedouin and his Wife 139
False Sufi Masters 140
Viewing from Limited Perspectives 146
‘Women Prevail over Intelligent Men, while
Ignorant Men Prevail over them’ 150
Pharaoh’s Fate 151
‘He Has Lost this World and the Hereafter’ 153
Saleh and his She-Camel 155
‘He lets the Seas meet Each Other with a Gap
which They Don’t Encroach upon’ 158
The Station of ‘That God may forgive you your
past and future sins’ 160
Contents ix
The Mutual Need of Beggars and Donors 169
False Dervishes 169
Lovers of the Superficial 172
‘If You Fornicate, Do it with a Free Woman; If
You Steal, Steal a Pearl!’ 173
The Boatman and the Grammarian 174
The Sufi Guide 180
The Softie from Qazvin who Wanted a Tattoo 183
The Lion, the Wolf, and the Fox 185
The Man who Learned to Knock on his Beloved’s
Door and Say ‘It is You!’ 188
Sufis Serve as Mirrors of the Soul 193
The Gift Brought by Joseph’s Visitor 194
The Prophet’s Scribe who Became an Apostate 198
Bal(cid:2)am and the Damned 202
The Temptation of Harut and Marut 203
The Deaf Man who Visited his Sick
Neighbour 206
Satan was the First to Rely on Reasoning 208
The Importance of Hiding your Mystical Station 210
The Painting Competition between the Greeks and the
Chinese 212
The Prophet Mohammad and Zayd 214
Loqman’s Test to Discover who had Eaten the Fruit 219
Extinguishing Fire in Medina under Omar 226
Why Ali Dropped his Sword in Battle 227
The Man who was Told that he would One Day
Kill Ali 234
Adam’s Conceit 237
