Routledge Revivals: More Tales from the Masnavi (1963)

A. J. Arberry

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2016
• ISBN:
  9781315455594
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Islamic Theology

First published in 1963, this work puts into clear and rhythmical English one hundred stories and apologues of the Masnavi of Rumi.

Composed over a period of many years during the thirteenth century, as a manual of instruction and initiation into spiritual life, the Masnavi has long been acclaimed the greatest mystical epic of Islam. The tales were designed to illustrate in human terms the often complex doctrine, and this they do with a wealth of beauty, honour and pathos, as appealing to the modern reader as to the medieval audience to which they were originally addressed. The volume, like its predecessor Tales of the Masnavi, is included in the UNESCO list of representative great works of world literature.

This work will be of interest to those studying Islam and Middle Eastern literature.

NOTES

(101) ‘How is it right,’ asks Rumi in Masnavi IV 359, ‘for a servant of God to dare to make trial of God, to test him?’ This story illustrates the sin of pride, of the neophyte presuming to question the orders of his spiritual director. ‘If a disciple makes trial of the shaikh who is his leader and guide, he is an ass’ (IV 374).

‘The man in the story’: the reference is to Tale 104.

‘Lord, we have wronged ourselves’: Koran VII 22.

(102) This story is a comment on the prayer of the lover offered up for the night-watchman in the preceding tale. For the moral behind the tale, cf. Rumi’s Discourses (my translation), p. 138: ‘Whoever says evil of the gnostic in reality says good of the gnostic; for the gnostic shies away from that quality, blame for which might settle on him.’

(103) The Sufi by repeating his faithless wife’s talk of chastity implies that he is aware of her guilty secret.

(104) This tale resembles one in ‘Attar’s Asrar-nama (Teheran, 1298), pp. 61–2.

‘To tumble his basin off the roof’: a metaphor for public exposure.

‘God has called the unbelievers unclean’: in Koran IX 28.

(105) Othman was the third caliph of Islam, succeeding Omar in A.D. 644. For his silence in the pulpit, see the graphic account in Rumi’s Discourses, pp. 139–40: ‘He kept silent and said nothing; he looked steadily at the people, and caused a state of ecstasy to descend upon the people so that they had no power to go out, and knew not where one another were sitting. Not by a hundred preachings and sermons and predications would have such an excellent state been brought about in them; precious lessons were imparted to them and secrets were revealed, that could not have been communicated by so much labour and preaching. To the end of the assembly he continued to look at them thus, saying not one word. When he desired to descend from the pulpit, he said, “It is better for you to have a working Imam than a speaking Imam.”’

(106) Bilkis is the name by which the Queen of Sheba is known in Arabic literature; it does not occur in the Koran, but is known to the commentators. In this tale Rumi follows closely the account of Bilkis’ encounter with King Solomon as described in Koran XXVII, which he has elaborated with great artistry.

Rizvan: the angel keeping the gate of Paradise.

‘God summons to the Abode of Peace’: Koran X 26.

‘I will now tell the story’: Rumi inserts five couplets in Arabic in the romantic style of the love-poets.

Ayaz: the handsome youth beloved of Mahmud of Ghazna, as recounted in Tale 147.

‘By my craft’: see Koran XXVII 39–40.

Asaf: King Solomon’s chief minister.

(107) The moral of this tale is given in Masnavi IV 647: ‘Worldly wealth is a trap for feeble birds; the kingdom of the world to come is a trap for noble birds.’

(108) For Khizr (Khazir) see my Tales from the Masnavi, p. 296.

(109) Ibrahim ibn Adham, prince of Balkh, is a favourite figure in Sufi hagiography. The version of his conversion here given (for a quite different account see my Sufìsm, p.36) is based on ‘Attar, Tadhkirat al-auliya’ I, p.86: ‘One night as he was reclining on his throne he heard the roof of the palace shake as though someone was walking above. “Who is there?” he cried. “A friend,” came the reply. “I’ve lost a camel and am searching for it on the roof.” “Fool, do you search for camels on a roof?” demanded Ibrahim. “And you, ignoramus,” the voice retorted, “do you search for God reclining on a golden throne, attired in a satin robe?”’

(110) This story seems to be a variant of Tale 33, see my Tales from the Masnavi, p. 119.

(111) The basis of this story is the account of Muhammad’s infancy given by Ibn Hisham, Sira, pp. 106–7: ‘When his foster-mother, a woman of the Banu Sa’d, was bringing him back to his family in Mecca she lost him in the crowd and could not find him. So she went to ‘Abd al-Muttalib and told him, “By Allah, I don’t know where he is.” ‘Abd al-Muttalib stood up in the precinct of the Kaaba and prayed to God to let the child return. It is said that he was discovered in the upper part of Mecca by Waraqa ibn Naufal and another man of the tribe of Quraish. They brought him to ‘Abd al-Muttalib, who carried him on his neck and circumambulated the Kaaba, praying to God to preserve him from harm. Then he sent him to his mother Amina.’

Halima: the Prophet’s foster-mother.

Hatim: a semicircular wall skirting the north and west corners of the Kaaba.

‘Uzza: an idol worshipped by pagan Arabs.

‘The time of the occlusion’: the interval between the prophets Jesus and Muhammad.

‘Sand-ablution’: permitted for ritual purposes when water cannot be procured.

‘Once before’: as related in Ibn Hisham, p.105.

(112) Compare with this tale the story of Rabi’a the woman-saint in ‘Attar, Tadhkirat al-auliya I, p.68: ‘One day in spring she entered her house and bowed her head in meditation. The serving-woman said, “Mistress, come out and behold what God has made.” Rabi’a answered, “You come and behold the Maker. Contemplation of the Maker preoccupies me, so that I have not the time to look upon that which is made.”’

‘So behold’: Koran XXX 49.

(113) This tale illustrates the Arab proverb, ‘The answer for fools is silence.’ In his concluding remarks the king reveals himself as a symbol for the Divine Ruler.

(114) The mediaeval canon-lawyers of Islam took pride in the size of their turbans. For an illustration of the ‘moockleh’ or large scholar’s turban, see E. W. Lane, Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians (1836), I, p. 39.

(115) ‘And received long life in return’: according to the Tradition, ‘Almsgiving averts tribulation and lengthens life.’

‘Shall a man sow pure seeds’: cf. Koran II 263:

The likeness of those who expend their wealth

in the way of God is as the likeness

of a grain of corn that sprouts seven ears,

in every ear a hundred grains. So God

multiplies unto whom He will.

(116) Rumi has slipped in assigning the hero of this tale to the tribe of Hudhail. As R. A. Nicholson points out (VIII, p. 176), the youthful commander referred to was Usama, son of Zaid ibn Haritha a slave adopted by Muhammad. Usama despite his youth was appointed commander-in-chief to lead an invasion of Syria in the last month of the Prophet’s life, and was confirmed in the appointment by Abu Bakr.

‘By the star’: Koran LIII.

‘He frowned’: Koran LXXX.

‘See things as they really are’: cf. the well-known Tradition, ‘Fear the insight of the believer, for he sees by the Light of God.’

‘We, who see the inward truth’ a reference to the Tradition ‘God regards not your outward forms neither your deeds, He regards your hearts and your intentions.’

(117) This tale is based on ‘Attar, Tadhkirat al-auliya’ I, p. 140. For Bayazid see my Revelation and Reason in Islam, pp.89–103; R. C. Zaehner, Hindu and Muslim Mysticism, pp.93–134.

‘There is no god’: Bistami was quoting Koran XXI 25.

Girdakuh: a stronghold of the Assassins near Damaghan, south of the Caspian Sea.

(118) The basis of this tale is an anecdote in the Kalila wa-Dimna (see Cheikho’s edition, p.75).

‘Dying before death’: Rumi has in mind, as frequently, the famous Tradition, ‘Examine yourselves before you shall be examined and weigh your actions before you shall be weighed. Die before you die.’

‘Came there no warner’: Koran LXVII 8.

‘Yes indeed’: Koran LXVII 9.

(119) This tale is imitated from ‘Attar; see Nicholson, VIII, p. 182.

(120) Pharaoh’s imagination provoked in him the pretension to Divinity, see Masnavi III 1557 and cf. Koran LXXIX 24.

‘I am Reason, the envoy’: see Koran XXVI 15.

‘Who fled from this land’: for Moses slaying the Egyptian and his flight from Egypt, see Koran XXVIII 14–20.

‘Did you not recognize your debt’: see Koran XXVI 17–18.

‘Jesus himself’: Rumi is not concerned by the anachronism.

‘Light in hand’: the ‘white hand’ of Moses, see Koran VII 105, XXVI 32 and cf. Exodus iv 6.

‘Whose mercy has precedence’: Rumi quotes the Tradition, ‘When God ordained the creation He wrote in His Book, which is with Him above the Throne, “Surely My mercy prevailed over (var: preceded) My wrath.”’

‘You clutched the loins and the wombs’: to prevent the predicted birth of Moses, as related in Tale 68, see my Tales from the Masnavi, pp.197 ff., 296–8.

‘Ad, Thamud: ancient peoples of Arabia destroyed because of their unbelief, see Koran XI 53–72.

‘He gives to every thing’: see Koran XX 52.

‘Lay hold of the rope’: see Koran II 257, XXXI 21.

Esiya: the wife of Pharaoh is not named in the Koran, cf. XXVIII 8, LXVI 11. Rumi so spells her name, which otherwise occurs in the commentaries and histories in the form Asiya, perhaps a corruption of Asenath (Genesis xli 45).

‘Heedlessness and blindness’: cf. Rumi’s Discourses, p. 120. ‘Now this world goes on by reason of heedlessness; if it were not for heedlessness, this world would not remain in being. Yearning for God, recollection of the world to come, intoxication, ecstasy—these are the architects of the other world. If all these should supervene, we would to a man depart to the other world and would not remain here. God most High desires that we should be here, so that there may be two worlds. So he has appointed two sheriffs, one heedlessness and the heedfulness, that both houses may remain inhabited.’

Haman: identified in the Koran as Pharaoh’s chief minister, see Koran XXVIII 38.

‘Give a white falcon’: see Tale 25 in my Tales from the Masnavi, p.97.

(121) This tale illustrates the principle of ‘like attracts like’ touched on in the preceding story (‘Haman was the congener of Pharaoh, Esiya of Moses’); cf. Rumi’s Discourses, p. 19, ‘It is the element of congeneity that draws one man to another, not words. If a man should see a hundred thousand miracles and expositions and divine graces, if there is no element of congeneity in him connecting him with the prophet or the saint concerned, then all those phenomena will be profitless. It is that element which keeps him agitated and restless. If there were no element of amber in a straw, the straw would never move towards the amber. This congeneity between them is a hidden and not a visible thing.’

(122) ‘Five times daily’: in the Call to Prayer. See Rumi’s Discourses, p.155: ‘God most High also declared, “Thy Companions out of weakness and fear for their lives and beca...