The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) · 35 of 37 · tr. E.H. Whinfield
STORY XVI-a
'Ali's Forbearance.
'Ali, the "Lion of God," was once engaged in conflict with a Magian chief, and in the midst of the struggle the Magian spat in his face.
'Ali, instead of taking vengeance on him, at once dropped his sword, to the Magian's great astonishment.
On his inquiring the reason of such forbearance, 'Ali informed him that the "Lion of God" did not destroy life for the satisfaction of his own vengeance, but simply to carry out God's will, and that whenever he saw just cause, he held his hand even in the midst of the strife, and spared the foe.
The Prophet, 'Ali continued, had long since informed him that he would die by the hand of his own stirrup-bearer (Ibn Maljun), and the stirrup-bearer had frequently implored 'Ali to kill him, and thus save him from the commission of that great crime; but 'Ali said he always refused to do so, as to him death was as sweet as life, and he felt no anger against his destined assassin, who was only the instrument of God's eternal purpose.
The Magian chief, on hearing 'Ali's discourse, was so much affected that he embraced Islam, together with all his family, to the number of fifty souls.
How the Prophet whispered to 'Ali's stirrup-bearer that he would one day assassinate his master.
"The Prophet whispered in the ear of my servant That one day he would sever my head from my neck.
The Prophet also warned by inspiration me, his friend, That the hand of my servant would destroy me.
My servant cried, "O kill me first, That I may not become guilty of so grievous a sin!" I replied, "Since my death is to come from thee, How can I balk the fateful decree?" He fell at my feet and cried, "O gracious lord, For God's sake cleave now my body in twain, That such an evil deed may not be wrought by me, And my soul burn with anguish for its beloved." I replied, "What God's pen has written, it has written; In presence of its writings knowledge is confounded; There is no anger in my soul against thee, Because I attribute not this deed to thee; Thou art God's instrument.
God's hand is the agent.
How can I chide or fret at God's instrument?" He said, "If this be so, why is there retaliation?" 1 I answered, "'Tis from God, and 'tis God's secret; If He shows displeasure at His own acts, From His displeasure He evolves a Paradise; He feels displeasure at His own acts, Because He is a God of vengeance as of mercy.
In this city of events He is the Lord, In this realm He is the King who plans all events.
If He crushes His own instruments, He makes those crushed ones fair in His sight.
Know the great mystery of 'whatever verses we cancel, Or cause you to forget, we substitute better for them.' 2 Whatever law God cancels, He makes as a weed, And in its stead He brings forth a rose.
So night cancels the business of the daytime, When the reason that lights our minds becomes inanimate.
Again, night is cancelled by the light of day, And inanimate reason is rekindled to life by its rays.
Though darkness produces this sleep and quiet, Is not the 'water of life' in the darkness?
3 Are not spirits refreshed in that very darkness?
Is not that silence the season of heavenly voices?
For from contraries contraries are brought forth, Out of darkness was created light.
The Prophet's wars brought about the present peace, The peace of these latter days resulted from those wars.
The transformation of base substance — outer matter or the inner soul — into a purified, perfected, or 'gold' state; the magnum opus as both laboratory practice and spiritual allegory.
The metaphor of God cancelling a law as a 'weed' and bringing forth a 'rose' mirrors the transformation of base substance into gold.
Eckhart's Abgeschiedenheit/Gelassenheit — radical letting-go of will, image, and grasping that opens the soul to God; distinct from inner_silence (quietness) and from material renunciation, and adjacent to Sufi tark and Buddhist non-grasping as a practice rather than a metaphysical claim.
The immediate dropping of the sword and refusal to balk at fate demonstrate a radical letting-go of personal will and grasping.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
[auto] The passage centrally emphasizes that God is the 'King who plans all events' and that 'What God's pen has written' cannot be altered.
Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.
'Ali attributes the assassination not to the servant's malice but to God's will, treating the evil act as an instrument rather than independent being.
Sufi self-effacement in God — the via by which the lover is unmade as a separate ego and recovered as God's act; specifies the practice/event rather than mystical_union's resulting state.
'Ali's refusal to act on vengeance and his acceptance of death as 'sweet' reflect the Sufi practice of self-effacement and submission of the ego-will.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
[auto] 'Ali states 'God's hand is the agent' and that the assassin is merely an instrument, implying all actions ultimately belong to the One Divine Reality.