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

Parts show the nature of the whole so well,
It’s God who must deal out the fatal blow ––
Who else can pull the string to 
fire this bow?
Straight arrows only will God’s bow admit,
Your bow holds arrows crooked, bent, and split:
To leave the bow the arrow must be straight,
It then won’t fail to 
fly and penetrate.
When from the outward 
fight I turned around
1395
The war inside our soul was what I found:
‘
The small jihad we have just left behind’
For a jihad of a much greater kind;
The strength from God is what I long to win
Which can uproot Mount Qaf with just a pin,
Don’t overrate the lion which can kill!
The one who breaks himself is greater still.
The Greater Jihad
87

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The emissary from Byzantium comes to Omar, the
Commander of the Faithful
* and sees his miracles
Now listen to this story, which spells out
Some of the secrets you’ve been told about:
A man came to Omar once from the west,
1400
Through deserts till Medina with no rest:
‘The Caliph’s palace –– please show me the way!
I need to ride there with my load today.’
‘He doesn’t have a palace,’ he was told,
‘Except his soul, illumined like pure gold;
His well-earned fame as leader is secure
Though he lives in a hut just like the poor.’
How can you see a palace of this kind
When one stray hair has made your heart’s eye blind?
Rid your heart’s eye of hair to have a prayer
1405
Of seeing this great Caliph’s palace there!
Whoever’s soul is free from lust has found
Admittance to God’s kingdom’s hallowed ground:
Mohammad, purged of 
fire and smoke’s last trace,
Whichever way he turned saw just 
God’s face,
*
While you are still the evil whisperer’s friend
There is God’s face how can you comprehend?
If you’ve an opening in your heart you’ll see
The sun’s bright rays wherever you may be ––
In everything God can be seen through love
1410
Just like the moon among the stars above.
If you place 
fingertips upon each eye,
Can you see anything at all? Don’t lie!
Though you can’t see things, they all still exist;
The fault lies curled inside your self ’s tight 
fist––
Just lift the 
fingers from your eyes, to then
Observe whatever you should want again.
Noah, when asked, ‘Where’s the reward?’ replied,
‘Beyond 
beneath their clothes their heads they hide’
*
Omar and the Emissary from Byzantium
88

---

You’ve hidden it beneath your clothes; that’s why
1415
You still can’t see although you have an eye!
A man’s his eye, he’s mere skin otherwise
For the beloved’s only seen by eyes,
If they can’t see him, then they’re better blind,
That’s best for idols of a transient kind.
On hearing this, the messenger grew keen
To reach his goal, more than he’d ever been,
Omar with his own eyes he wished to 
find,
And so he left his horse and load behind
To search for this great master everywhere
1420
Just like a madman with no other care:
‘Can such a man exist –– can this be true?
He’s hidden like the soul –– what can we do?’
He sought to serve him like a slave in need ––
Such seekers always in the end succeed.
An Arab woman saw him come, and said,
‘Omar lies near that tree as if in bed:
Far from the people under that date-palm
God’s Shadow
* sleeps in shade where it is calm.’
The emissary from Byzantium 
finds the Commander of