The Masnavi, Book One (Oxford World's Classics)

Bal

am son of Ba
ur the Bil
am ben Be
or of the Old Testament (Num.
22, 23, 24), who is the archetypal sage led astray by pride and lust. He is
believed by exegetes to be referred to in Koran 
7: 175.

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Bayazid see
abu yazid.
Boraq the name given in tradition to the Prophet’s fabulous steed during
his Night Journey from 
mecca to Jerusalem, which was followed by his
ascension to heaven (see further vv. 
1081–2).
Bu Jahl see
abu jahl.
Bu

l-Hakam see abu jahl.
Esra
fil the angel who, according to Muslim eschatology, signals
Judgment Day at the end of time with the blast of a trumpet.
Gabriel the Archangel Gabriel, who revealed the Koran to the Prophet
Mohammad, and guided him on his spiritual ascent.
Galen Greek physician and authority on medicine of the second century
ce, whose works came to symbolize Greek medicine in the medieval
Middle East.
Hamza the subject of a popular biographical tradition exemplifying
bravery which is traditionally understood to have stemmed from the
biography of the Prophet Mohammad’s paternal uncle, Hamza ebn
Abd al-Mottaleb.
Harut and Marut a pair of fallen angels referred to in the Koran
(
2: 102). They looked down on Man for his sinful nature, but, when put
to the test on earth, they became prone to lust. They tried to seduce a
beautiful woman. That woman became Venus, while Harut and Marut
were imprisoned in a well in Babylon forever as punishment.
Hosam Hosamoddin Chalabi (d. 
1284), Rumi’s disciple and deputy, who
wrote down the 
Masnavi as Rumi recited it (see further the
Introduction).
Hud an Arab prophet after whom chapter 
11 of the Koran has been
named, as it recounts (
11: 50–60) his career as the prophet sent to the
nation called 
aad. While this nation was vanquished because of its
disbelief, Hud and his followers were saved by God.
Jonayd Abu

l-Qasem al-Jonayd (d. 297/910), Sufi who was widely recog-
nized as the supreme authority of his generation. He lived in Baghdad,
though he was born and brought up in Persia.
Kaaba the approximately cube-shaped building in 
mecca which
Muslims face to pray and around which they circumambulate during
the pilgrimage. According to Muslim tradition, it was constructed by
Abraham and Ishmael for the worship of God, but was subsequently
turned into an idol temple. Mohammad’s later mission to establish
Abrahamic monotheism is symbolized by his destruction of the idols at
the Kaaba after the Muslim conquest of Mecca.