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

Omar and the Emissary from Byzantium
93

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He then repented. God said, ‘Didn’t I
Create that crime in you –– Why did you lie?
Wasn’t it all because of my decree?
Why did you take responsibility?’
He said, ‘Through fear I kept respect for you.’
God said, ‘I’ve kept in mind your actions too.’
Whoever shows respect, respect will meet:
Bring halva and you’ll eat an almond sweet.
For whose sake are 
good women? For good men!
*
1505
Spread joy! Hurt friends and see what they do then!
Produce a 
fitting parable, O heart,
Compulsion from free will to tell apart:
The hands of sick men which shake constantly
And those hands which you shake deliberately,
Both movements God creates, in that they share,
But these two pairs of hands you can’t compare:
You may regret you forced their hands to shake,
But sick men can’t be blamed, for heaven’s sake!
The intellect explores these words I speak
1510
For it’s a fox which tries to lead the weak;
Though pearls may be on o
ffer as the goal
Its quest’s unlike the journey of the soul:
Spiritual quests are on a di
fferent sphere,
Like mystic wine and wine fermented here;
When intellectual quests were the top aim
Omar and Bu

l-Hakam were just the same,
Omar then chose his soul before his head
And Bu

l-Hakam became Bu Jahl instead,
In intellect as perfect as can be,
1515
But the most ignorant man inwardly!
A secondary cause is the brain’s quest,
The mystic’s quest lies far above the rest!
The soul’s light shone, O seeker of God’s light,
Then logic’s quarrels disappeared like night,
Because the seer on whom God’s light rays shine
Supporting proofs can’t hinder nor con
fine.
Omar and the Emissary from Byzantium
94

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Commentary on ‘He is with you wherever you may be’
*
We’ve come back to the tale we had in mind,
How could we ever leave that tale behind?
If we meet ignorance, to gaol we’re bound,
1520
If knowledge then His palace we have found;
When we’re asleep we’re drunk, then for His sake
We’re back in His hands also when awake,
When weeping we’re an ostentatious cloud,
Then lightning when we start to laugh aloud,
We show His anger when we 
fight with men,
His love when we forgive, at peace again ––
Who are we, coiled and twisted like a string?
What’s straight apart from 
1? Name me one thing!
The emissary asks Omar about the reason for the su
ffering
of spirits in bodies of water and clay
He asked, ‘Omar, what aim’s behind this plot
1525
To lock pure beings in a 
filthy spot?
Pure water’s hidden when it’s sprayed on ground,
Pure souls in bodies likewise have been bound.’
He said, ‘Your question seems to be quite apt ––
Pure meaning in a word you’ve tightly wrapped:
You’ve shackled what was once free like a bird
As you have trapped the wind inside a word ––
Have you done this to make a personal gain
Though you can’t see what spirits thus attain?
The one from whom all bene
fits arise
1530
Can surely see what you’ve seen with your eyes!’
A million bene
fits are here, and all
Compared with that one are extremely small,
Your speech’s breath is part of what is whole,
So don’t deny pure being its true role!
Though but a part, your acts help all the same ––
Don’t raise your hands and give the whole the blame!
Omar and the Emissary from Byzantium
95

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If talking has no value, speak no more
Or else give thanks, don’t be so mean and sore;
To thank’s to place a halter round your neck,
1535
Not quarrelling about a tiny speck,
If it meant to look sour only, then
Mere vinegar would thank God more than men!
If vinegar must penetrate the liver
Tell it, ‘Turn to a healing brew with sugar!’ ––
Meaning in verse is nothing but insane,
It’s like a sling which no one can restrain!
On the meaning of ‘Let whoever wants to sit with
God sit with the Su
fis’ *
This made the messenger lose self-control,
Forgetting all about his mission’s goal:
The power of God left him completely dazed,
1540
He came, and to a higher state was raised;
On reaching it, a 
flood becomes the sea,
In soil a seed may grow to form a tree,
When bread is in our gut it comes alive,
And soaks up knowledge, which helps all things thrive,
When wax and timber both are set alight
Their essence, which was dark, becomes so bright,
If you apply some kohl around your eye
You’ll learn to see as well as any spy:
Happy the man who from himself is free
1545
And joins with Being in true unity,
Alas the one who mixes with the dead ––
He’ll die himself because he’s been misled.
So many prophets the Koran extols ––
Read it! Become familiar with their souls!
For it describes each one’s biography
As
fish in the sea of divinity.
If you recite but don’t accept the Book
You’ve turned them down although you’ve had a look,
If you accept the stories on each page
1550
You’ll feel your soul’s a bird trapped in a cage;
Omar and the Emissary from Byzantium
96

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The reason that the caged bird settles there
And doesn’t
flee is that it’s unaware.
Spirits which have escaped from their constraints
Are
fit to guide like prophets and like saints;
Their voices speak of faith when they should say:
‘This is your one escape route –– come this way!’
Through faith we have escaped the narrow cell ––
There is no other way out of this hell
Than to be seen as su
ffering what’s worse,
1555
In order to 
flee reputation’s curse,
For reputation’s such a heavy chain ––
Much worse than iron chains in this domain.