Masnavi I, 3882-86
He alone has the right to break,
for He alone has the power to mend.
He that knows how to sew together
knows how to tear apart.
Whatever He sells, He buys
something better in exchange.
He lays the house in ruins;
then in a moment
He make it more liveable than before.
Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance
Threshold Books, 1996
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski from
Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra
Masnavi, Book I, 3844-3892, and 3924-3947
(How the Prophet, on whom be peace, said in the ear of the stirrup holder of the Prince of the Faithful ?Ali, may God honour his person, "I tell thee, All will be slain by thy hand.")
I am such a man that the honey of my kindness did not
become poison in wrath (even) against my murderer.
The Prophet said in the ear of my servant that one day
he would sever this head of mine from my neck.
The Prophet by (Divine) inspiration informed my friend that
in the end my destruction would be (wrought) by his hand.
He (my friend) says, "Kill me first, in order that this
hateful crime may not proceed from me.'
I say, "Since my death is (to come) from thee, how can I
seek to evade the destiny (of God)?'
He falls before me, saying, "O generous man, for God's sake
cleave me in twain,
That this evil end may not come upon me, and that my
soul may not burn (with grief) for (thee who art) its (very) life.'
I say, "Go: the Pen (of Divine ordainment) is dry1; by
that Pen many a (lofty) landmark22 is overthrown.
There is no hatred of thee in my soul, because I do not
regard this (act) as (proceeding) from thee.
Thou art God's instrument, God's hand is the (real) agent:
how should I assail and oppose God's instrument?"'
He (the knight) said, "For what reason, then, is
retaliation (sanctioned)?" "'Tis from God, too,"said ?Ali,
"and that is a hidden mystery.
If He takes offence at His own act, (yet) He causes
gardens (of good) to grow from that taking offence.
It beseems Him to take offence at His own act, inasmuch as
in vengeance and mercy He is One.
In this city of phenomena He is the Prince; in (all) the
realms (of the world) He is the Ruler.
If He breaks His own instrument, He mends that which has become broken."
Recognise, O noble sir, the indication of (the text),
(Whatever) verse We shall cancel or cause to be forgotten,
followed by We shall bring a better.
Every (religious) law that God has cancelled-He has
taken away grass and brought roses in exchange.
Night cancels the business of day: behold an inanimateness
(inertia) that enlightens the intellect!
Again, night is cancelled by the light of day, so that the
inanimateness is consumed by that fire-kindling one.
Although that sleep and rest are darkness, is not the Water
of Life within the darkness?
Did not minds become refreshed in that darkness? Did not a
pause (in recitation) become the source of (increased beauty in) the voice?
For contraries are manifested by means of contraries:
in the black core (of the heart) He (God) created the light (of love).
The wars of the Prophet became the pivot (determining
cause) of peace: the peace of this latter age was (produced) from those wars.
That heart-ravisher cut off hundreds of thousands of heads,
in order that the heads of the (whole) world's people might win security.
The gardener lops the harmful bough, in order that the date
palm may gain (tallness of) stature and goodness.
The expert (gardener) digs up the weeds from the garden, in
order that his garden and fruit may look flourishing.
The physician extracts bad teeth, in order that the
beloved (patient) may be saved from pain and sickness.
Advantages then are (concealed) within defects: for
martyrs there is life in death.
When the (martyr's) throat has been cut that swallowed the
daily bread, (the spiritual blessings implied in the text)
receiving the (Divine) bounty, rejoicing, shall be delicious (to him).
When the throat of an animal is cut duly (in the manner
prescribed by law), there grows (from it) the throat of man,3
and its excellence is increased (thereby).
When a (martyred) man's throat is cut, come, consider what
the result will be! Judge of this (case) by the analogy of that (case).
A third throat will be born, and care of it will be
(taken by) the sherbet of God and His lights.
The throat that has been cut drinks (the Divine) sherbet,
but (only) the throat that has been delivered from Nay and has died in Yea.
Make an end, O pusillanimous short-fingered (infirm) one!
How long will the life of thy spirit be (sustained) by bread?
Like the willow, thou hast no fruit, because thou hast lost
thine honour for the sake of white bread.
If the sensual soul cannot refrain from this bread, take
the elixir and turn thy copper into gold.
Wouldst thou wash thy garment (clean), O so-and-so, do
not avert thy face from the bleachers' quarter.
Although the bread has broken thy fast, cling to Him that
binds what is broken, and ascend!
Inasmuch as His hand binds what is broken, it follows that
His breaking is assuredly mending.
If thou break it, He will say to thee, "Come, make it whole
(again)"; and thou hast neither hand nor foot (thou art helpless).
Therefore He (alone) has the right to break, for He (alone)
can mend what has been broken.
He that knows how to sew (together) knows how to tear
(asunder); whatsoever He sells, He buys (something) better (in exchange).
He lays the house in ruins, upside down; then in one moment
He makes it more habitable (than it was before).
If He sever one head from the body, He at once raises up
hundreds of thousands of heads (for the beheaded person).
If He had not ordained a retaliation upon the guilty, or if
He had not said, "In retaliation there is (for you) a life,"
Who indeed would have the stomach (would dare) of himself
(on his own responsibility) to wield (draw) a sword against
him that is a thrall to the decree of God?
Because every one whose eyes He (God) hath opened
would know that the slayer was constrained (to slay) by (Divine) predestination.
Any one on whom that decree might (fall) would strike a
sword-blow even at the head of his (own) child.
Go, fear (God) and do not rail at the wicked: know thine
own impotence before the snare of the (Divine) decree.
[intervening story deleted]
(Returning to the story of ?Ali-may God honour his person!-and how generously he behaved to his murderer.)
Go back to ?Ali and his murderer, and the kindness he
showed to the murderer, and his superiority (moral and spiritual excellence).
He said, "Day and night I see the enemy with my eyes,
(but) I have no anger against him,
Because death has become sweet as manna to me: my death has
laid fast hold of resurrection4
The death of deathlessness is lawful to us, the provision
of unprovidedness is a bounty to us.
?Tis death outwardly but life inwardly: apparently ?tis a
cutting-off (decease)5, in secret (in reality) ?tis
permanence (life without end).
To the embryo in the womb birth is a going (to another
state of existence): In the world it (the embryo) blossoms anew6.
"Since I have intense love and longing for death, the
prohibition do not cast yourselves (into destruction) is (meant) for me,
Because (only) the sweet berry is prohibited; (for) how
should it become necessary to prohibit the sour one?
The berry that has a sour kernel and rind-its very sourness
and disagreeableness are (serve as) a prohibition of it.
To me the berry of dying has become sweet: (the text) nay,
they are living has come (from God) on my account.
Slay me, my trusty friends, slay me, vile as I am: verily,
in my being slain is my life for evermore.
Verily, in my death is my life, O youth-how long shall
I be parted from my home? Until when?
If there were not in my staying (in this world) my
separation (from God), He would not have said, "Verily, we
are returning to Him."'
The returning one is he that comes back to his (native)
city, and (fleeing) from the separation (plurality) of Time
approaches the Unity.
(How the stirrup-holder of ?Ali, may God honour his person, came (to him), saying, "For God's sake, kill me and deliver me from this doom.")
"He came back, saying, "O Ali, kill me quickly, that I may
not see that bitter moment and hour.
Shed my blood, I make it lawful to thee, so that my eye may
not behold that resurrection7.
I said,"If every atom should become a murderer and,
dagger in hand, go to attack thee,
None (of them) could cut from thee the tip of a single
hair, since the Pen has written against thee such a line (of doom).
But do not grieve: I am intercessor for thee: I am the
spirit's master, I am not the body's slave.
This body hath no value in my sight: without my body I am
the noble (in spirit), the son of the noble.
Dagger and sword have become my sweet basil: my death has
become my banquet and narcissus-pot
He that hamstrings (mortifies) his body in this
fashion, how should he covet the Princedom and the Caliphate?
Outwardly he strives after power and authority, (but only)
that he may show to princes the (right) way and judgement;
that he may give another spirit to the Princedom; that he
may give fruit to the palm-tree of the Caliphate.
"The Mathnawi of Jalalu'ddin Rumi"
Edited and translated by Reynold A. Nicholson
Published by "E.J.W.Gibb Memorial",
Cambridge, England.
First published 1926, Reprinted 1990.
1 I.e. the Divine decree is written and unalterably fixed.
2 Or, "many a man of mark."
3 Because the slaughtered animal is eaten and assimilated by man.
4 I.e. "my death holds and possesses (as its real nature) resurrection."
5 Literally, "its outward (aspect) is cut short."
6 And, by the same analogy, death opens a new world to the spirit.
7 I.e. "do not let me be raised from the dead with this crime to answer for."
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