The Saint Who Feigned Madness
From Rumi’s Masnavi (مثنوی معنوی), Book 2, section 54 of 113: How an inquirer managed to draw into conversation an eminent (saintly) man who had feigned to be mad (به حیلت در سخن آوردن سائل آن بزرگ را که خود را دیوانه ساخته بود). Below, each of its 32 couplets is given in Persian, followed by R. A. Nicholson’s English translation.
How an inquirer managed to draw into conversation an eminent (saintly) man who had feigned to be mad. به حیلت در سخن آوردن سائل آن بزرگ را که خود را دیوانه ساخته بود
آن یکی میگفت خواهم عاقلی
مشورت آرم بدو در مشکلی
A certain man was saying, “I want some one of intelligence, (that) I may consult him about a difficulty.”
آن یکی گفتش که اندر شهر ما
نیست عاقل جز که آن مجنوننما
One said to him, “In our city there is nobody of intelligence except yonder man who appears to be mad.
بر نیی گشته سواره نک فلان
میدواند در میان کودکان
Look, there is (one named) so-and-so: mounted on a cane, he rides (it as a cock-horse) amongst the children.
صاحب رای است و آتش پارهای
آسمان قدر است و اختر بارهای
He is possessed of judgment and (keen as) a spark of fire; he is as the sky in dignity, and as the stars in high estate.
فر او کروبیان را جان شده ست
او در این دیوانگی پنهان شده ست
His glory has become the (rational) soul of the Cherubim; he has become concealed in this (feigned) madness.”
لیک هر دیوانه را جان نشمری
سر منه گوساله را چون سامری
But you must not account every madman a (rational) soul: do not, like Sámirí, lay down your head (in worship) to a calf.
چون ولیی آشکارا با تو گفت
صد هزاران غیب و اسرار نهفت
When a manifest saint has declared unto you hundreds of thousands of unseen things and hidden mysteries,
مر ترا آن فهم و آن دانش نبود
واندانستی تو سرگین را ز عود
And you have not had the (proper) understanding and knowledge, (so that) you have not distinguished dung from aloes wood.
از جنون خود را ولی چون پرده ساخت
مر و را ای کور کی خواهی شناخت
How, when the saint has made for himself a veil of madness, will you recognise him, O blind one?
گر ترا باز است آن دیدهی یقین
زیر هر سنگی یکی سرهنگ بین
If your eye of intuitive certainty is open, behold a (spiritual) captain under every stone.
پیش آن چشمی که باز و رهبر است
هر گلیمی را کلیمی در بر است
To the eye that is open and (as) a guide, every dervish-cloak hath a Moses in its embrace.
مر ولی را هم ولی شهره کند
هر که را او خواست با بهره کند
“Tis only the saint (himself) that makes the saint known and makes fortunate whomsoever he will.
کس نداند از خرد او را شناخت
چون که او مر خویش را دیوانه ساخت
No one can recognise him by means of wisdom when he has feigned to be mad.
چون بدزدد دزد بینایی ز کور
هیچ یابد دزد را او در عبور
When a seeing thief steals from a blind man, can he at all detect (the identity of) the thief (who is) in the act of passing?
کور نشناسد که دزد او که بود
گر چه خود بر وی زند دزد عنود
The blind man does not know who it was that robbed him, even though the wicked thief may knock against him.
چون گزد سگ کور صاحب ژنده را
کی شناسد آن سگ درنده را
When a dog bites a blind ragged mendicant, how should he recognise that ferocious dog?
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