Masnavi i Ma'navi — trans. E. H. Whinfield (abridged) (1898)

The poet then passes on to the subject of the need for constant watchfulness, in order to avoid the snares of the world, and not to miss the divine blessing whenever it may appear. There is a tradition, "When half the night has passed Allah will descend to earth, and cry, 'Ho, ye that ask, it shall be answered to you; and ye that crave pardon, it shall be pardoned to you; and ye that petition, your petitions shall be granted.'" But all who sleep the sleep of negligence will miss the promised blessing. This is illustrated by the story of a lover who obtained an assignation with his mistress, but when she came, was found asleep, and was accordingly rejected.

NOTES:

• 1. See Miskkat ul Masabih, ii. 541.
• 2. "To God I commit my case" (Koran xl. 47).

STORY III. The Drunken Turkish Amir and the Minstrel.

Then follow exhortations to undergo "the pains of negation," as they are called in the Gulshan i Raz, i.e., even as the great saint and poet Faridu-'d-Din 'Attar cast away his drugs, to cast one's own will, knowledge, power, and "self" into the unique river of "annihilation," 1 and from that state to rise to the higher state of eternal existence in God. The end and object of all negation is to attain to subsequent affirmation, as the negation in the creed, "There is no God," finds its complement and purpose in the affirmation "but God." Just so the purpose of negation of self is to clear the way for the apprehension of the fact that there is no existence but The One. The intoxication of life and its pleasures and occupations veils the Truth from men's eyes, and they ought to pass on to the spiritual intoxication which makes men beside themselves and lifts them to the beatific vision of eternal Truth. This is the same thing as saying they must pass on from negation to affirmation, from ignorance to the highest knowledge. This is illustrated by the story of the Turkish noble and the minstrel, which is given with an apology for using illustrations derived from drunkenness. A Turkish noble awoke from his drunken sleep, and called his minstrel to enliven him. The minstrel was a spiritual man, and proceeded to improve the occasion by singing a song with a deep spiritual meaning: "I know not if thou art a moon or an idol, I know not what thou requirest of me. I know not what service to pay thee, Whether to keep silence or to speak. Thou art not apart from me, yet, strange to say, I know not where I am, or where thou art. I know not wherefore thou art dragging me, Now embracing me, and now wounding me!"

Thus the whole of his song consisted of repetitions of the words, "I know not." At last the noble could endure it no longer, and he took a stick and threatened to beat the minstrel, saying, "O wretch, tell us something you do know, and do not repeat what you do not know. if I ask you whence you come or what you have eaten, and you answer only by negations, your answer is a waste of time. Say what you mean by all these negations." The minstrel replied, "My meaning is a concealed one. I fear to make affirmations in opposition to your negations, so I state negations that you may get a hint of the corresponding affirmations from them. I now hint the truth to you in my song; and when death comes to you, you will learn the mysteries which at present I can only hint." Spiritual mysteries set forth in the Masnavi under similes of intoxication. That wine of God is gained from that minstrel, 2 This bodily wine from this minstrel. Both of these have one and the same name in speech, But the difference between their worth is great. Men's bodies are like pitchers with closed mouths; Beware, till you see what is inside them. The pitcher of this body holds the water of life, Whilst that one holds deadly poison. If you look at the contents you are wise; If you look only at the vessel you are misguided. Know words resemble these bodies, And the meaning resembles the soul. The body's eyes are ever intent on bodies, The soul's eyes on the reasonable soul; Wherefore, in the figures of the words of the Masnavi, The form misleads, but the inner meaning guides. In the Koran it is declared that its parables "Mislead some and guide some." 3 O God! when a spiritual man talks of wine, How can a fellow spiritual man mistake his meaning? Thus that minstrel began his intoxicating song,