The Masnavi — Rumi
You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org . If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title : The Mesnevi Author : Maulana Jalal al-Din Rumi Translator : Sir James W. Redhouse Release date : March 31, 2020 [eBook #61724] Most recently updated: October 17, 2024 Language : English Other information and formats : www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61724 Credits : Produced by Turgut Dincer, Les Galloway and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive) *** START OF Variations in hyphenation have been standardised but all other spelling and punctuation remains unchanged. The cover was prepared by the transcriber and is placed in the public domain. TRÜBNER’S ORIENTAL SERIES. EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY BALLANTYNE, HANSON AND CO., PAUL’S WORK AND CHANDOS STREET, LONDON BOOK THE FIRST. TOGETHER WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF THE LIFE AND ACTS OF THE AUTHOR, OF HIS ANCESTORS, AND OF HIS DESCENDANTS ; Illustrated by a Selection of Characteristic Anecdotes, AS COLLECTED BY THEIR HISTORIAN, MEVLĀNĀ SHEMSU-’D-DĪN AHMED, EL EFLĀKĪ, EL ‘ĀRIFĪ. TRANSLATED, AND THE POETRY VERSIFIED , BY JAMES W. REDHOUSE, M.R.A.S., ETC. LONDON: TRÜBNER & CO., LUDGATE HILL. 1881. [ All rights reserved. ] C’est le nom d’un des plus fameux Livres de l’Orient, composé en vers Persiens sur un grand nombre de différentes matières de Religion, d’Histoire, de Morale, et de Politique. “Il a été composé par Gelaleddin Mohammed, fils de Mohammed, Al Balkhi, Al Konoui, environ l’an 600 de l’Hegire. “Les surnoms de Balkhi et de Konoui sont donnés à cet Auteur, parce qu’il était natif de la ville de Balkh en Khorassan, et qu’il vint s’établir ensuite dans celle de Cogni en Natolie. “Ce fut dans cette même ville qu’il institua un ordre de Derviches plus spirituels que les autres, lesquels on appelle ordinairement Mevlevis, qui font leur Capital de l’ouvrage de leur Maistre, auquel ils ne portent guères moins de respect qu’ à l’Alcoran. C’est pourquoi on donne aussi souvent au Mathnaoui le surnom de Mevlevi. “Il y a un grand nombre de Commentaires Persiens et Turcs sur ce Livre, dont la poésie est estimée si excellente, que tous ses vers en sont cités, comme autant de sentences.”— D’Herbelot , Bibliothèque Orientale. PAGE Translator’s Preface vii SELECTED ANECDOTES . CHAP. I . Bahā’u-’d-Dīn, Veled, Sultānu-’l-‘Ulemā 3 II . Seyyid Burhānu-’d-Dīn, Sirr-Dān 13 III . Mevlānā Jelālu-’d-Dīn, Muhammed 18 IV . Shemsu-’d-Dīn, Tebrīzī 99 V . Sheykh Salāhu-’d-Dīn, Ferīdūn 110 VI . Chelebī Husāmu-’d-Dīn, Hasan 113 VII . Bahā’u-’d-Din, Sultān Veled 122 VIII . Chelebī Emīr ‘Ārif 126 IX . Genealogical 132 THE MESNEVĪ—BOOK I . Preface i Introduction .—Plaint of the Reed-Flute 1 TALE I . The Prince and the Handmaid 4 II . The Oilman and the Parrot 19 III . The Jewish King, Persecutor of Christians 25 IV . Another Jewish King, Persecutor of Christians 55 V . The Lion and the Beasts 67 VI . The Greater (Spiritual) Warfare 101 VII . The Merchant and the Parrot 114 VIII . The Harper 139 IX . The Poor Scenite Arab and his Wife 165 X . Patience and Perseverance 212 XI . The Lion’s Hunt 218 XII . Joseph and the Mirror 228 XIII . The Prophet’s Amanuensis 234 XIV . The Chinese and Roman Artists 248 XV . Zeyd’s Inspiration 254 XVI . ‘Ali’s Forbearance 270 Conclusion 289 1 The historian El Eflākī was a disciple of Chelebī Emīr ‘Ārif, a grandson of the author of the Mesnevī. ‘Ārif died in A.D. 1320; but as the dates of ‘Ārif’s successors are carried down to A.H. 754 ( A.D. 1353), when Eflākī’s collection of anecdotes was completed, the historian must have outlived this last date. As a disciple of the Emīr ‘Ārif, he was a dervish of the order named Mevlevī, as being followers of the rule and practices of Mevlānā Jelālu-’d-Dīn, er-Rūmī, commonly known in English literature as “the dancing dervishes,” expressed by Americans: “whirling dervishes.” The dervishes of the order do not all dance or “whirl.” Some are musicians, and some singers or chanters, who may, however, be occasional dancers also. Eflākī’s work gives a sufficiency of dates to fix the principal events that he commemorates. His dates do not agree exactly with those found in other historians. They are, however, sufficiently near for general purposes not of a chronologically critical nature. They commence with A.H. 605 ( A.D. 1208), and thus cover a period of 145 years dated, besides another 30 years of the lifetime of Jelāl’s grandfather undated, who was a noble of such high standing and of so great a reputation for learning and sanctity at Balkh, that the king gave him his only daughter in marriage, unsolicited. His mother was also a princess of the same royal house with his wife. This royal house was the one known in history as that of Kh’ārezm-shāh or the Kharezmians. They were overthrown, and Balkh (the ancient Bactra, or Zariaspa), their capital, destroyed, by Jengīz Khān in A.D. 1211. A remnant of their kingdom was continued for twelve years longer by the last of the line, who died, at once a fugitive and an invader, in Azerbāyjān, in a battle fought against the combined forces of Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor. Jelāl’s family claimed descent from Abū-Bekr, a father-in-law and the first successor of Muhammed, the lawgiver of Islām. One of the descendants of Abū-Bekr was among the conquerors of the ancient Bactria, when it was first brought under Muslim rule, in about A.D. 650, under the Caliph ‘Ūthmān; and his children had maintained a prominent position in that country, possessed of great wealth, until the time immediately preceding the irruption of Jengīz. Jelāl was the youngest of three children, two being sons, born of the princess, his mother, in Balkh. The eldest, a daughter, was already married, and remained behind wi