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

• 1. Koran xlix. 10; xxxi. 27; ii. 285.
• 2. The letter is given in Koran xxvii. 30.
• 3. All these legends are derived from Koran xxi., xxvii., and xxxviii. See Sale's notes.
• 4. This refers to Muhammad, who is at once the "First reason" (Logos) and the "Perfect man," who is "the sum of all the worlds" and the "Great world." See Notices et Extraits des MSS., x. p. 86.
• 5. He was also the final cause of creation. "If it had not been for thee, the world had not been created."
• 6. Muhammad as the Logos is the channel by which divine grace is conveyed to man. The "change of the body" is an allusion to the ascension of Muhammad (Mi raj).
• 7. A Hadis.
• 8. Music is much used in the religious services of the "Maulavi" order of Darveshes, founded by Jalalu -d-Din Rumi. See "The Dervishes," by J.P. Brown, p. 197.
• 9. "Am not I your lord?" (Koran vii. 171).
• 10. "When there shall be a trumpet blast, that shall be a dreadful day" (Koran lxxiv. 7).
• 11. The so-called Pythagorean doctrine of the "Harmony of the spheres" was as well known to Persian poets as to Shakespeare.
• 12. This is an allusion to the story of the "Believer's lost camel." Book ii., Story xi.
• 13. This alludes to the well-known poem of Faridu-d-Din 'Attar the "Mantiqu-t-Tair."
• 14. Book ii. Story v.
• 15. Koran xxvii. 16. There is a Hadis, "Speak to men according to the amount of their intelligence."
• 16. "These are they who have bought error at the price of guidance, but their traffic hath not been gainful" (Koran ii. 15).
• 17. Union attained, all duality and separate phenomenal existence are swallowed up in the One (Noumenon). (See Gulshan i Raz, I. 835 and 845).
• 18. Koran iii. 5.
• 19. Koran xxxvi. 7.
• 20. "And every man's work have we fastened about his neck, and on the last day will we bring forth to him a book, which shall be shown to him wide open. Read thy book; there needeth none but thyself to make out an account against thee that day " (Koran xvii. 14).
• 21. Koran xxiv. 35.
• 22. Koran xxxix. 67.
• 23. Koran ii. 148.
• 24. Koran xxx. 49.
• 25. Koran iii. 182.
• 26. "But is it unreasonable to confess that we believe in God, not by reason of the nature which conceals him, but by reason of the supernatural in man, which alone reveals him and proves him to exist? " (Jacobi, quoted in Sir W. Hamilton's Lectures on Metaphysics, vol. i. p. 40).
• 27. Koran vii. 22.
• 28. He said, "That thou hast caused me to err" (Koran vii. 15). This is the burden of many of 'Omar Khayyam's poems.
• 29. Koran xi. 43. See Book iii., Story 5.
• 30. Koran ix. 130.
• 31. Knowledge of "The Truth" is to be attained not by exercise of the reason, but by illumination from above. When the light of "The Truth" is revealed, reason is drowned in bewilderment. Gulshan i Raz, Answer ii.
• 32. Freytag, Arabum Proverbia, vol. ii. p. 898; 1 Cor. iv. 10.
• 33. "They were amazed at Yusuf, and cut their hands, and said, 'God keep us, this is no man!'" (Koran xii. 31).
• 34. Koran lxxiii. 1.
• 35. Koran ix. 126.

STORY III. The Youth who wrote a letter of complaint about his rations to the King.

A certain youth in the service of a great king was dissatisfied with his rations, so he went to the cook and reproached him with dishonoring his master by his stinginess. The youth would not listen to his excuses, but wrote off an angry letter of complaint to the king, in terms of outward compliment and respect, but betraying an angry spirit. On receiving this letter, the king observed that it contained only complaints about meat and drink, and evinced no aspirations after spiritual food, and therefore needed no answer, as "the proper answer to a fool is silence." 1 When the youth received no answer to his letter, he was much surprised, and threw the blame on the cook and on the messenger, ignoring the fact that the folly of his own letter was the real reason of its being left unanswered. He wrote in all five letters, but the king persisted in his refusal to reply, saying that fools are enemies to God and man, and that he who has any dealings with a fool fouls his own nest. Fools only regard material meat and drink, whereas the food of the wise is the light of God, as it is said by the Prophet, "I pass the night in the presence of my Lord, who giveth me meat and drink," 2 and again, "Fasting is the food of God," i.e., the means by which spiritual food is obtained. 3 Explanation of the text "And Moses conceived a secret fear within him. We said 'Fear not, for thou shalt be uppermost (over Pharaoh's magicians) '". 4 Moses said, "Their sorcery confuses them; What can I do? These people have no discernment." God said, "I will generate in them discernment; I will make their undiscerning reason to see clearly. Although like a sea their waves cast up foam, O Moses, thou shalt prevail over them; fear not!" The magicians gloried in their own achievements,