The Masnavi of Rumi Volume Book Two: A New English Translation with Persian Text and Explanatory Notes

Jalaloddin Rumi's Masnavi-ye Ma'navi , or 'Spiritual Couplets', composed in the 13th Century, is a monumental work of poetry in the Sufi tradition of Islamic mysticism. For centuries before his love poetry became a literary phenomenon in the West, Rumi's Masnavi had been revered in the Islamic world as its greatest mystical text. Drawing upon a vast array of characters, stories and fables, and deeply versed in spiritual teaching, it takes us on a profound and playful journey of discovery along the path of divine love, toward its ultimate goal of union with the source of all Truth. In Book Two of the Masnavi , the second of six volumes, we travel with Rumi toward an understanding of the deeper truth and reality, beyond the limits of the self. Alan Williams's authoritative new translation is rendered in highly readable blank verse and includes the original Persian text for reference. True to the spirit of Rumi's poem, this new translation establishes the Masnavi as one of the world's great literary achievements for a global readership. Translated with an introduction, notes and analysis by Alan Williams and including the Persian text edited by Mohammad Este'lami. Cover page Halftitle page Title page Copyright page Contents Preface Chronology Introduction Notes Further Reading Note on The Translation The Masnavi Book Two The Ending of the Self Rumi’s Preface The Poem How, in the time of Omar, May God be pleased with him, the moon appeared to someone’s imagination A snake-catcher’s stealing a snake from another snake-catcher The request of the companion of Jesus , on whom be peace, that Jesus, on whom be peace, should bring bones back to life A Sufi tells a servant to look aft er his mount and the ‘God help us!’ of the servant The King finds his falcon in the house of a poor old woman Sheikh Ahmad son of Khezruya buys halva for his creditors, by the grace of God Almighty Someone frightens an ascetic saying, ‘Don’t weep so, in case you go blind!’ How a peasant rubbed down a lion in the dark thinking that it was his ox Some Sufis sell a traveller’s beast to pay for a Sufi Samāʿ The publicising of a bankrupt by the public criers of the Qādi How people blamed someone who killed his mother out of suspicion The Story of How a King tested two slaves he had just bought The domestic servants’ envying the special servant The capturing of the falcon among the owls in the wilderness A thirsty man throws a brick from the top of a wall into the river How the Governor ordered a man, ‘Uproot this thorn bush you have planted in the road!’ The coming of friends to the asylum to question Zu’l-Nun the Egyptian God have mercy on him How Loqmān’s master tested his intelligence The reflection of the veneration of the prophet Solomon in the heart of Bilqis from the little face of the hoopoe A philosopher’s denial of the scripture ‘if in the morning your water should have sunk into the ground Moses, on whom be peace, takes off ence at the prayers of a shepherd An Amir’s harassment of a sleeping man into whose mouth a snake had gone On putting one’s faith in the fawning and trustworthiness of a bear The blindman’s saying ‘I have two blindnesses’ How Moses said to the calf-worshipper ‘Where’s your vain scepticism and precaution?’ How a madman sought to ingratiate himself with Galen and how Galen was afraid The cause of a bird’s flying and feeding with a bird that is not of its own kind Mohammad’s visiting the sick companion, and explanation of the benefit of visiting the sick God most high’s revealing to Moses, on whom be peace, ‘Why did you not visit me?’ How the gardener separated the Sufi, the jurist and the Alavid from one another Returning to the story of the sick man and the visit by the Prophet, on whom be peace, Story The Prophet’s, on whom be peace, knowing that the cause of that man’s sickness was irreverence in prayer Dalqak’s excuse to the Seyyed- e Ajal as why he had married a whore How a questioner lured an intelligent man into discussing why he pretended to be mad How the dog attacked the blind beggar How a constable summoned a fallen drunkard to prison Iblis unsettles Moʿāviye and deceives him, and Moʿāviye’s answering him How a judge complained of the disaster of being a judge, and the answer his deputy gave him The excellence of the remorse of the sincere one for being absent at congregational prayers The escape of the thief when someone shouted to the house owner who was just about to grab and catch the thief The story of the hypocrites and their building a mosque of opposition Story of someone who was seeking after his stray camel and asking after it Story of the Indian who quarrelled with his own friend over an action and was unaware that he too was aff ected How the Ghuzz Turcomans attacked to kill one man so that another would be intimidated How an old man complained of his ailments and how the doctor answered him The story of Juhi and the child grieving before the bier of the father How a child was frightened of a fat man and that person’s saying ‘My child, don’t worry I am impotent The story of an archer and his fear of a horseman who was riding in a forest The story of the Arab and his putting sand in the sack and the philosopher’s blaming him The miracles of Ebrā him son of Adham on the sea-shore A stranger reviling a sheikh and the sheikh’s disciple’s answer to him The statement of a certain person that God most high would not punish him for sin and the answer of Shoʿayb, on whom be peace, Aisha, may God be pleased with her, said to Mohammad, on whom be peace, You perform the prayer anywhere without a prayer mat How a mouse pulled the nose ring of a camel and the mouse’s becoming pleased with itself The miracle of the dervish whom they suspected of being a thief on board ship Some Sufis reproach a Sufi of talking too much before the sheikh Speaking in the inner language, and understanding it The search for the tree of which none who eats its fruit shall die The argument of four people about angur which each one knew by a different name How dissension and enmity among the Helpers were removed by the blessings of the Prophet, on whom be peace The story of the ducklings which were nurtured by a domestic fowl How the pilgrims were amazed at the miracles of the ascetic they found alone in the desert Notes Appendix Analytical Index of Stories and Discourses of Masnavi Book Two Index of Proper Names, Terms and Selected Themes Persian Text of The Masnavi Book Two, Jalaloddin Rumi's Masnavi-ye Ma'navi, or 'Spiritual Couplets', composed in the 13th Century, is a monumental work of poetry in the Sufi tradition of Islamic mysticism. For centuries before his love poetry became a literary phenomenon in the West, Rumi's Masnavi had been revered in the Islamic world as its greatest mystical text. Drawing upon a vast array of characters, stories and fables, and deeply versed in spiritual teaching, it takes us on a profound and playful journey of discovery along the path of divine love, toward its ultimate goal of union with the source of all Truth. InBook 1 of the Masnavi, the first of six volumes, Rumi opens the spiritual path towards higher spiritual understanding. Alan Williams's authoritative new translation is rendered in highly readable blank verse and includes the original Persian text for reference, and with explanatory notes along the way. True to the spirit of Rumi's poem, this new translation establishes the Masnavi as one of the world's great literary achievements for a global readership. Translated with an introduction, notes and analysis by Alan Williams and including the Persian text edited by Mohammad Este'lami