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

God knows best what’s right, my friend!
Why Ali Dropped his Sword in Battle
243

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E X P L A NAT O RY N O T E S
P RO S E I N T RO D U C T I O N
[written in Arabic prose; numbered by page and line]
3: 4 like a niche in which there is a lamp: Koran 24: 35, from a passage which
has attracted a considerable amount of mystical interpretations.
3: 6 known as Salsabil: Koran 76: 18. Salsabil is the name of one of the four
rivers in paradise in the Muslim tradition. See note to v. 
3573.
3: 8 and of resting places: Koran 25: 24, referring to paradise.
3: 11 Many He leads astray by it, while many others God will guide with it:
Koran 
2: 26, referring to God’s message and the different reactions (to
believe or to deny) among the recipients.
3: 14 by the hands of noble, pious scribes: Koran 80: 15–16, where it is under-
stood to refer to the writing down of the Koran.
3: 15 none shall touch it but the purified, a revelation from the Lord of both the
worlds: Koran 
56: 79–80, where it is understood to refer to the Koran.
3: 16 Falsehood does not approach it from the front or from behind: Koran 41: 42,
where it is understood to refer to the Koran.
3: 17 He is the best of guards and the most merciful of all: Koran 12: 64, where it
forms part of Jacob’s response to his other sons when they ask him for
permission to take Joseph out with them.
4: 2 veracious . . . may God be pleased with him and them: this is a formulaic
prayer in Arabic which is normally used in reference to the Prophet
Mohammad’s Companions (see note to v. 
367), one of whom, Abu Bakr,
is known as ‘the Veracious’ (as-Seddiq). However, it is Rumi himself,
rather than Hosamoddin, who is reported to have been a descendant of
Abu Bakr the Veracious (for whom see the Glossary).
4: 5 Last night I was a Kurd, but now I’ve woken up an Arab!: a verse in
Arabic attributed to a number of poets, none of whom, however, has
been identi
fied as an ancestor of Hosamoddin Chalabi.
4: 10 qebla: the direction, from any given location, towards the Kaaba in
Mecca (see Glossary), which Muslims face to pray.
4: 15 absent and present ones: those mystics who are absent from the world and
present with God.

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T E X T
[numbered by verse, or couplet]
9 then you should die!: the original means literally ‘be non-existent!’
Therefore, ‘
then you should die!’ is to be understood here not simply as
a dismissal, but rather, at the same time, as an instruction to become
consumed like the reed by the 
fire of divine love.
24 Like Plato here with Galen: Plato (d. 347 bce), the influential Greek
philosopher who founded the Academy at Athens, was familiar to
Muslims primarily through his Neoplatonic interpreters, and therefore
was remembered as a mystic and metaphysician. In this way, he comple-
ments Galen (see Glossary), who is remembered as the representative 
par
excellence of Greek medicine.
26 Moses fell and swooned: Koran 7: 143, in the context of Moses’s request to
God to reveal Himself; in response, God reveals Himself to a mountain,
flattening it. On witnessing this, Moses himself collapses and faints.
29 The nightingale: in classical Persian poetry the nightingale and the rose are
stock images symbolizing the lover and the beloved, respectively.
72 moon-faced ones above: an allusion to the houris, or female denizens of
Paradise.
77 You’re Mostafa and I’m Omar your friend: Mostafa (‘the appointed one’) is
one of the names of the Prophet Mohammad, while Omar (see Glossary)
was one of his most devoted companions.
80–5 A feast was sent down . . . you’ll not run out of it: references to the many
accounts in Muslim tradition of God’s provision of food to Moses and
Jesus and their followers, including in the Koran (
2: 61, 5: 115–18).
88 zakat: a tax for the benefit of the poor on certain categories of wealth
possessed by fellow Muslims. It is considered a religious obligation to
God, and is traditionally counted as one of the ‘
five pillars’ of Islam. The
relationship between 
zakat and rainfall as well as that between fornica-
tion and the spread of disease are derived from the sayings attributed to
the Prophet Mohammad.
100 if he does not refrain: Koran 96: 15, where it refers to those who prevent
Muslims from praying. It is usually understood to be a reference to the
opponents of the 
first Muslims in Mecca (see Glossary).
118 The moon was split: Koran 54: 1, usually interpreted as a reference to the
miraculous splitting of the moon by the Prophet Mohammad, though it
has also been considered a reference to a portent of the end of time.
123 Shamsoddin: the first direct reference in the Masnavi to Rumi’s teacher,
Shams-e Tabrizi;