Masnavi of Rumi, Book Three

Mowlana Jalaloddin Balkhi (1207-1273), known to the West as Rumi is a Persian poet comparable to the greatest poets of Europe. In 1244, Rumi began the composition of a body (divan) of lyric poems (ghazals) totalling 35,000 verses. In the early 1260s he turned to the composition of his most mature and final work, the mystical masterpiece in six volumes of Persian verses known as the Masnavi-ye Ma‘navi ‘The Spiritual Couplets’.Alan Williams was born 1953, Windsor, England. He studied Classics, Persian and Arabic at The Queen’s College Oxford, then a PhD in Old and Middle Iranian Studies at SOAS, London, and taught at SOAS, then the Universities of Sussex and Manchester, where he is now Emeritus Professor of Iranian Studies and Comparative Religion.

• Preface Chronology Introduction Further Reading Notes on the Translation English Translation of the Masnavi Book Three‘The Strengthening of the Spirit’ Rumi’s Preface The Poem The beginning of the poem The men who ate the baby elephant The suppliant’s calling to God is the essence of God’s saying ‘Here I am’ How a peasant deceived a townsman The Sabaeans and the rebellion brought about by their favour How Jesus healed the sick The falcon and the ducks The people of Zarwan Majnun and Leyla’s dog How a jackal fell into a dyeing vat How a show-off greased his lips and moustaches every morning Bal’am son if Ba’ur Comparing Pharaoh and his pretence of divinity with that jackal Explanation of ‘And you shall certainly know them...’ Harut and Marut Pharaoh’s dream of the coming of Moses and the conception of Moses The snake-catcher and the frozen snake Moses and Pharaoh in dispute Moses gives Pharaoh respite The two magicians call their father from the grave The elephant in the dark house Noah and his graceless son Canaan The resolution of two traditions How bewilderment impedes explanation and conceptualisation A lover busy reading a love-letter The man who prayed for a lawful livelihoodThe poet excuses himself and asks for help The teacher who imagined himself sick The dervish who broke his vow The far-sighted goldsmith The reason Pharaoh’s magicians were brave enough to suffer the amputation of their hands and feet The complaint of the mule to the camel He ass of ‘Ozayr The sheikh who did not grieve for the death of his sons The story of the blind old man reading the Quran The patience of Loqman Buhlul questions a dervish The miracles and visions of Daquqi The mystery of Moses seeking Khezr Jesusflees from some fools The hares who sent a hare as an envoy to the elephant Noah and the building of the Ark The thief who said he was beating a drum The meaning of prudence and the story of the prudent man The vow made by dogs in winter The wisdom of creating the hell of the next world and the prison of this world The sufi’s infatuation with a cloth food bag How Jacob breathed in the fragrance of GodThe prince and his servant who was diligent in ritual prayer The faith of the novice is fear and hope The Prophet’s rescue of the caravan of stranded Arabs God helps the needy An eagle steals the boot of the Prophet Moses is asked to teach the language of the animals The woman whose children died Hamze in battle without his mailcoat How to avoid being cheated in trade How Belal died in happiness Comparing this world and the nextComparing scripture and analogy The rules for listeners and disciples Conventional and intuitive knowledge Knowing by comparion and knowing in essence The fana and baqa of the dervish The minister of Sadr-e Jahan of Bokhara The appearance of the Holy Spirit to Maryam The enchanted mosque of deathThe boy who beat a tom-tom The true believer compared to the chickpea boiling in the pot The Masnavi and the Quran The Prophet and the captives How the beloved attracts the lover A gnat’s appeal for justice The lover finding his belovedNotes Index of Proper Names, Terms and Selected Themes Persian Text of Book Three,Edited by Mohammad Este‘lami

Alan Williams’ musical translation of Rumi’s masterpiece is a majestic monument, expressing the spirit of the Persian poetry and its spiritual aspirations to the English reader. This new translation is a must for anyone interested in poetry, aesthetic experience, Islamic mysticism, and powerful stories that change lives. This third volume (out of six) is commonly seen as the heart of Rumi’s Spiritual Couplets: quantitatively, it is longer, but qualitatively it may perhaps be regarded as the most artistic, giving imagination a central place to envision the role of human beings in the world, emphasising why passionate love is the only vehicle to bring back the exiled soul to the spiritual Abode. One can only be grateful to Professor Williams for this translation, which is pellucid, melodic, and above all, precise.