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The Masnavi, Book I (Rumi) · 36 of 37 · tr. E.H. Whinfield

STORY XVI-b

That conqueror of hearts cut off a thousand heads, That the heads of his people might rest in peace." God's rebuke to Adam for scorning Iblis. To whomsoever God's order comes, He must smite with his sword even his own child. Fear then, and revile not the wicked, For the wicked are impotent under God's commands. In presence of God's commands bow down the neck of pride. Scoff not nor chide even them that go astray! One day Adam cast a look of contempt and scorn Upon Iblis, thinking what a wretch he was. He felt self-important and proud of himself, And he smiled at the actions of cursed Iblis. God Almighty cried out to him, "O pure one, Thou art wholly ignorant of hidden mysteries. If I were to blab the faults of the unfortunate, I should root up the mountains from their bases, And lay bare the secrets of a hundred Adams, And convert a hundred fresh Iblises into Mosalmans." Adam answered, "I repent me of my scornful looks; Such arrogant thoughts shall not be mine again. O Lord, pardon this rashness in Thy slave; I repent; chastise me not for these words!" O Aider of aid-seekers, guide us, For there is no security in knowledge or wealth; "Lead not our hearts astray after Thou hast guided us," 4 And avert the evil that the "Pen" has written. Turn aside from our souls the evil written in our fates, Repel us not from the tables of purity! O God, Thy grace is the proper object of our desire; To couple others with Thee is not proper. Nothing is bitterer than severance from Thee, Without Thy shelter there is naught but perplexity. Our worldly goods rob us of our heavenly goods, Our body rends the garment of our soul. Our hands, as it were, prey on our feet; Without reliance on Thee how can we live? And if the soul escapes these great perils, It is made captive as a victim of misfortunes and fears, Inasmuch as when the soul lacks union with the Beloved, It abides forever blind and darkened by itself. If Thou showest not the way, our life is lost; A life living without Thee esteem as dead! If Thou findest fault with Thy slaves, Verily it is right in Thee, O Blessed One! If Thou shouldst call sun and moon obscure, If Thou shouldst call the straight cypress crooked, If Thou shouldst declare the highest heaven base, Or rich mines and oceans paupers, All this is the truth in relation to Thy perfection! Thine is the dominion and the glory and the wealth! For Thou art exempt from defect and not-being, Thou givest existence to things non-existent, and again Thou makest them non-existent. *NOTES: 1. i,e., why is the rule "an eye for an eye" enjoined in the Koran, ii. 173? 2. Koran ii, 100. 3. Alluding to the "water of life" in the land of darkness discovered by Khizr. 4. Koran iii. 6. Epilogue to Book I. Alas! the forbidden fruits were eaten, And thereby the warm life of reason was congealed. A grain of wheat eclipsed the sun Of Adam, l Like as the Dragon's tail 2 dulls the brightness of the moon. Behold how delicate is the heart, that a morsel of dust Clouded its moon with foul obscurity! When bread is "substance," to eat it nourishes us; When 'tis empty "form," it profits nothing.
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Themes
Apophatic Theologytheology

Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.

God's perfection is described as transcending human categories, where even calling the sun obscure would be truth relative to Him.

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Body As Obstacleanthropology

The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.

The text states that the body rends the garment of the soul and worldly goods rob heavenly goods.

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Divine Providencetheology

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.

The passage references God's order, the Pen that writes fate, and the impotence of the wicked under divine commands.

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Hidden Sayingssoteriology

Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.

God rebukes Adam for being ignorant of hidden mysteries that only the Divine knows.

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Living Godtheology

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

God is depicted as actively speaking, commanding, pardoning, and responding to human supplication.

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Mystical Unionsoteriology

The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.

The text describes the soul's blindness when lacking union with the Beloved and the desire for divine shelter.

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Paradox As Teachingethics

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

The text uses paradoxical statements about God's power to redefine truth (e.g., calling the sun obscure) to illustrate divine sovereignty.

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Prayerpraxis

Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward.

[auto] The latter half of the text consists of direct supplication to God for guidance, protection, and grace.

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Renunciation Of Wealthethics

The spiritual danger of attachment to material possessions; wealth as a spiritual obstacle.

Worldly goods are explicitly identified as robbing the soul of heavenly goods and causing peril.

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Return To Sourcesoteriology

The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.

The prayer asks for guidance back to purity and protection from being led astray after having been guided.

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Self Knowledgesoteriology

The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.

Adam's repentance involves recognizing his own arrogance and ignorance regarding his spiritual state.

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Separation From Sourcesoteriology

The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.

[auto] The passage explicitly states that severance from God is the bitterest thing and life without Him is dead.

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Related passages · 9 parallels
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology|Chapter III-b
“Now in the former treatises the course of the argument, as it came down from the highest to the lowest categories, embraced an ever-widening number of conceptions which increased at each stage of the descent, but in the present treatise it…”
Shared concept: Apophatic Theology — Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 5, Section 1a
“131 CHAPTER V Concerning ” Existence “ and also concerning ” Exemplars .” I. Now must we proceed to the Name of “Being” which is truly applied by the Divine Science to Him that truly Is. But this much we must say, that it is not the purpo…”
Shared concept: Mystical Union — The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall)|The Human Body in Symbolism-j
“When humanity has completed its physical evolution, the empty shell of materiality left behind will be used by other life waves as steppingstones to their own liberation. The trend of man's evolutionary growth is ever toward his own essent…”
Shared concept: Self Knowledge — The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 1, Section 1d
“And we press upwards to those beams which in the Holy Scripture shine upon us; wherefrom we gain the light which leads us unto 55 the Divine praises 64 64 πρὸς τοὺς θεαρχικοὺς ὕμνους. Either (1) “leads us to declare the Divine praises”; or…”
Shared concept: Return To Source — The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall)|Qabbalistic Keys to the Creation of Man-a
“HENRIE STEPHEN, in A World of Wonders , published in 1607, mentions a monk of St. Anthony who declared that while in Jerusalem the patriarch of that city had shown him not only one of the ribs of the Word made flesh and some rays from the…”
Shared concept: Hidden Sayings — Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth. (derived)
western_esoteric|Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi)|3. The Triangle Of Solomon-c
“These shells, envelopes petrified or carnified, were such an expression possible, are the source of errors or of evil, which connects with the heaviness and hardness of animal envelopes. In the book Zohar , and in that of the Revolution of…”
Shared concept: Body As Obstacle — The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return. (derived)
neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 161
“Section 5 5. Still more unreasonably: There are men, bound to human bodies and subject to desire, grief, anger, who think so generously of their own faculty that they declare themselves in contact with the Intelligible World, but deny that…”
Shared concept: Divine Providence — 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. (derived)
western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XIX (part 7)
“In the reduction of your soul to its simplest self, its divine essence, you realize this union—this identity. But this sublime condition is not of permanent duration. It is only now and then that we can enjoy this elevation above the limi…”
Shared concept: Separation From Source — The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive. (derived)
native_american|The Soul of the Indian|Chapter I-b
“Sometimes an old man, standing upon the brink of eternity, might reveal to a chosen few the oracle of his long-past youth. The native American has been generally despised by his white conquerors for his poverty and simplicity. They forget…”
Shared concept: Renunciation Of Wealth — The spiritual danger of attachment to material possessions; wealth as a spiritual obstacle. (derived)
Contrasts · where traditions diverge
christian_mysticism|Revelations of Divine Love|Chapter XIII
“"The Enemy is overcome by the blessed Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ" And after this, ere God shewed any words, He suffered me for a convenient time to give heed unto Him and all that I had seen, and all intellect that was there…”
Both passages discuss the overcoming of evil (the Fiend/Iblis) through divine intervention and the scorn of God towards the evil one. They share a conceptual parallel in the theme of divine triumph over malevolent forces and the humility required in the face of divine will.