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Masnavi I, 596-610
The tears of (our) eyes are running, because of separation from
You.1 (And) intense sighs are flowing from the depths of (our) souls.
An infant doesn't argue with (its) nurse [to get milk] but weeps,2
while not knowing (anything about) bad or good.
We are like the harp, and You are strumming (upon it). The
mournful (sound is) not from us, (but) You are causing the lament.
We are like the reed-flute, and the melody within us is from You.
We are like a chess game, (engaged) in capture and checkmate,3
(but) our capture and checkmate is from You, O You of Beautiful
Qualities!4
O You, who are the Soul of our souls, who are we?-- that we
should be5 (in existence) with You in (our) midst!
We and our existences are non-existences, (while) You are the
Absolute Existence6 which causes (our) transient (existences) to
appear.
We (are) all lions, but lions (painted) on a flag;7 their charge
(forward) is (only) because of the wind, moment by moment.
(And) their charge (forward) is visible, but the wind isn't visible.
May that which is invisible never be lost8 (to us)!
Our wind (which moves us) and our existence9 is (part) of Your
gift; our being is entirely from Your bringing (us) into being.
You made non-existence10 (to become) Your lover, (and then)
You showed the delight of existence to non-existence.
Do not take away the enjoyment of Your favors, (and) do not
take away Your (sweet) desserts, wine, and goblet!
And if You take (them away), who will seek You11 (for an
accounting)? How can the painting act forcefully toward the
Painter?
Do not gaze upon us, (and) do not look at us! (But) look upon
Your own Honor12 and Generosity!
We did not exist, and there was no demand13 (from us), (but)
Your Grace was hearing14 our unspoken (prayer)!
From "The Mathnawî-yé Ma`nawî" (Rhymed Couplets of
Deep Spiritual Meaning) of Jalaluddin Rumi.
Translated from the Persian by Ibrahim Gamard
(with gratitude for R.A. Nicholson's 1926 British trans.)
Footnotes courtesy of Ibrahim Gamard.
1from You: in the text, these lines are
addressed to a human beloved (a religious leader --probably the apostle
Paul-- spoken by his disciples). But, as in Rumi's poetry (and in
Persian sufi poetry in general), God is often intended at the same time.
2but weeps: in his Commentary, Nicholson makes a reference to Mathnawi 5, 135-36:
"The day old infant continues to know the way, (thinking) 'I will cry
until the kind nurse comes!' Don't you know that the Nurse of (all)
nurses* gives no milk free, without (any) crying?" [* = God]
3capture and checkmate: refers to the
capture of all the opponent's chess pieces, when only the king remains
to be checkmated. The meaning includes both capturing and being
captured, checkmating and being checkmated. Thus, Nicholson translated
it as "victory and defeat."
4Beautiful Qualities: refers to the "Most
Beautiful Names" (Qur'an 7:180) of God, such as the "Ninety Nine Names
of God" used in Islamic devotions and sufi prayers.
5that we should be: Rumi quotes elsewhere
(1:517) a sufi saying: "Existence is a sin"-- meaning, "Only God truly
exists and your 'you-ness' is (for mystics) a kind of defect."
6You are the Absolute Existence: "Most
commentators [of the Mathnawi] regard the... passage as spoken by the
Vizier's disciples... but the words 'tú wujúd-i
muTlaq-í' would naturally indicate that the poet is speaking in
his own person and describing the utter dependence of the creature on
the Creator." (Nicholson, Commentary)
7on a flag: "In so far as Man belongs to the
phenomenal world, he is not-being (`adam), which derives from Absolute
Being a transient existence no more substantial than that of a shadow.
God, the One Real Being, causes phenomena to appear, or appears in the
form of phenomena in order that His attributes and actions may be
manifested." (Nicholson, Commentary) "There is a very close parallel to
these verses in Book IV, 3051 sqq., here the spirit, as the mover of
the body, is compared with the wind which sets in motion a lion
pictured on a banner" (Nicholson, Commentary)
8be lost: based on the earliest manuscript, Nicholson later changed his
translation to: "may that which is unseen not fail!" (from "not fail from us").
9our wind and our existence: a word play on
"wind" (bâd) and "existence" (bûd). One commentator (on the
Mathnawi) explained this as "the intellect and spirit by which we are
moved," but Nicholson disagreed, saying that it "seems rather to mean
'existence fleeting and empty as wind.'" (Nicholson, Commentary)
10You made non-existence: Nicholson
believes that this passage was influenced by the teachings of the great
mystic Ibnu 'l-`Arabî (died, 1240): "Here 'not-being'
(níst) signifies 'relatively non-existent' (= potentially
existent), i.e. the world existing as an idea in God's knowledge before
the latent essence of things were brought into actual and objective
existence. God caused this 'not-being' to love Him, i.e. He made every
latent essence capable (= desirous) of receiving the concrete existence
which He bestowed upon it." (Nicholson, Commentary)
11who will seek You?: based on the earliest
manuscript, Nicholson later changed his translation to: "who will make
inquiry of thee?" (from, "who is there that will make inquiry?").
12Honor (ikrâm): a part of one of the
"Ninety Nine Names of God" often chanted by the sufis-- "the Possessor
of Majesty and Honor [dhu 'l-jalâli wa 'l-ikrâm)" (Q.55:27,
78)
13there was no demand: "i.e. 'We did not
exist (actually), nor did we (explicitly) request Thee to bring us
forth from potential into actual existence.'" (Nicholson, Commentary)
14Your Grace was hearing: "i.e. 'it as
through Thy grace that in response to our (implicit) prayer (cf. Qur.
LV 29 ["Every (creature) in the heavens and the earth seeks (its need)
from Him"] we received actual existence and thus realised our
potentialities.'.... for example the state of a parched plant is
virtually a request for water, while a seed buried in the earth is
virtually asking to grow and spring up.... Hence 'not-being' may be
said to 'love' God who endows it with being, just as the beggar loves
the bountiful giver." (Nicholson, Commentary)
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