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

The Jewish King’s Anti-Christian Fire
51

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His mercy is what makes me now implore,
Since drowned in joy I think of you no more;
Come in, and call the other people too,
A royal banquet’s waiting here for you!
Come in believers! Our pure faith apart,
805
All other things bring torment to the heart ––
Enter the 
flames like moths which burn their wings,
Good fortune blossoms here like endless springs.’
The child’s repeated shouting was so loud
Amazement 
filled the souls of all the crowd,
So, sel
flessly, each one of them in turn
Jumped in believing that they wouldn’t burn:
They dived through love, they didn’t drag their feet,
All for the one who makes the bitter sweet.
The king’s assistants weren’t long to arrive
810
To stop them –– they said, ‘No one else must dive!’
That Jew turned red for he now felt ashamed,
Regret had left his bitter heart in
flamed
Because he saw the people’s faith increase ––
Through self-annihilation they’d found peace.
Thank God this evil plot left him disgraced,
For Satan even would have been red-faced,
What he’d rubbed on the faces of that crowd
Now covered his own face just like a cloud,
That one who tore the shirts that we all wore,
815
Saw his own ripped, ours perfect as before.
How the smirk of that man who pronounced the name of
Mohammad mockingly remained 
fixed on his face
He smirked as he read out the Prophet’s name,
Then couldn’t wipe it o
ff, and so he came
To beg Mohammad, ‘Prophet, pardon me,
You have such grace and know Truth’s mystery;
I made fun then because I was a fool,
I should myself have met such ridicule.’
When God decides to show they’re immature
He makes men feel inclined to mock the pure,
The Jewish King’s Anti-Christian Fire
52

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He also hides men’s faults, preserves their name,
820
By stopping them from giving others blame;
When God should wish to help he 
first decrees
That we must humbly beg him on our knees ––
How great it is to cry for just his sake
And for a heart, through love of him, to bake!
Your tears will end with laughter –– can’t you tell?
How blest are those who know this secret well:
Wherever water’s
flowed some grass has grown,
Wherever tears are wept God’s mercy’s shown ––
Be like the water-wheel, weep endlessly
825
So that your soul can grow its greenery!
Have mercy 
first if tears are what you seek,
To gain God’s mercy pity all the weak!
The
fire’s reproach for the king of the Jews
The king turned to the 
fire, ‘Short-tempered one,
What’s going on, are you not meant to burn?
What happened to your special quality?
Have your intentions changed by destiny?
Fire-worshippers you chose not to forgive
So why let those who don’t adore you live?
You’re not known for your patience, so why now
830
Will you not burn –– have you forgotten how?
This world deprives us of our sense of sight,
But how can 
fire not burn––this can’t be right!
Have spells been cast, or is it sorcery?
Is this unnatural outcome fate’s decree?’
The
fire said, ‘I’ve not changed, idolater,
Come in and feel my heat, you murderer!
My nature and my essence stay the same,
As God’s own sword, I slash when he takes aim!
The Turkmen’s dogs all linger by his hut,
835
Before each guest they fawn and whimper, but
If they should see a stranger pass one day,
They’ll roar like lions, and chase him away ––
The Jewish King’s Anti-Christian Fire
53

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I’m not less than a dog in servanthood
And God controls more than the Turkmen could!’
If the 
fire in your nature makes you grieve
Remember that it’s only by God’s leave,
If the 
fire in your nature gives you bliss
The lord of faith has 
filled your soul with this.
When you feel sorrow beg forgiveness, friend,
840
He’s sent grief as a means to a good end!
Your pain he’ll turn to joy, and equally,
If he should choose, from fetters you’ll be free.
Earth, water, wind, and 
fire, his faithful slaves,
Alive with him, to us seem dead as graves:
In front of God, 
flames always stand up straight
And writhe like lovers in a passionate state,
A spark leaps out when iron’s struck with stone,
It travels out by God’s command alone,
Don’t strike it with the stone of tyranny ––
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It multiplies like men relentlessly;
Though stone and iron are the cause, you can
Attempt to look beyond them, noble man.
This cause was prompted by a prior one,
So how can men assume that it has none?
Those causes which decide what Prophets do
Are higher than these causes you can view,
Those ones can choose to make these take e
ffect,
Or make them fruitless things we all neglect;
These causes can be grasped with just your mind,
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But only Prophets know the other kind ––
What is it? Say, ‘
A rope’ in Arabic,
Hung in the well so straight it seems a stick:
The water-wheel’s spin moves this rope in front,
If you can’t see this, then you’re ignorant!
Don’t say rope-like e
ffects seen in this world
From heaven’s wheel directly have been hurled,
Don’t be a zero, round just like this wheel,
Hollow wood for the 
fire––discern what’s real!
The Jewish King’s Anti-Christian Fire
54

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The wind can clash with 
fire by God’s decree,
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Drunk through God’s wine which adds ferocity:
Water is gentle, 
fire enraged, my son,
Open your eyes, see both come from the One.
If the wind’s soul had not been taught by God
How could it tell apart the men of Aad?
Hud drew a line around his righteous men,
On reaching it the wind died down again,
But all those standing on the other side
Were 
flattened for wind there did not subside;
Just like Shayban the Shepherd
* who would draw
860
Around his 
flock a line all clearly saw,
So when he left on Fridays for the prayer
No wolf would ever harm the sheep in there,
While wolves dared not ignore the shepherd’s sign
No sheep would ever step across this line:
The grunts of greed from both the wolves and sheep
Were silenced by the circle of his keep.
For mystics too the wind that signals death,
Like Joseph’s scent, seems soft, refreshing breath,
And Abraham from 
fire felt no alarm*––
865
God’s chosen prophet bon
fires couldn’t harm!
The faithful can’t be burnt by 
fires of lust
Though it reduces men to less than dust.
On God’s command, the 
fierce waves in the sea
Could still tell Moses from his enemy,
When orders came the earth dragged Korah
* down
Into its depths, despite his throne and crown;
Jesus’s breath made water mixed with clay
*
Grow wings, become a bird and 
fly away!
Your praise is now hot air, but will appear
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A bird of heaven if your heart’s sincere;
Moses’s light made Sinai dance and spin,
*
Becoming thus a dervish, free of sin:
Mountains can change to dervishes each day,
Moses’s body used to be mere clay!
The Jewish King’s Anti-Christian Fire
55

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The Jewish king ridicules, denies, and refuses to accept
the advice of his own élite
The king saw all these wonders, but did naught
But mock and then deny what they all taught,
Advisers warned, ‘Don’t push the limit, king,
Don’t ride too far your steed of quarrelling!’
He cu
ffed and locked them up immediately
875
And then continued with his tyranny;
At this point all the people heard a shout:
‘Stop, dog, our wrath has come to sort you out!’
A
fire soared forty feet above, and then
It formed a ring and burnt all of his men:
Their origin was 
fire right from the start––
Back to their source they now had to depart.
That group were also born of 
fire, of course;