Masnawi Sacred Texts of Islam: Book Four

By Mevlana Rumi

The Fourth Book begins with an address to Husamu-'d-Din, and this is followed by the story of the lover and his mistress, already commenced in the third book. A certain lover had been separated from his mistress for the space of seven years, during which he never relaxed his efforts to find her. At last his constancy and perseverance were rewarded, in accordance with the promises "The seeker shall find," and "Whoso shall have wrought an atom's weight of good shall behold it."

Story I: The Lover and his Mistress
Story II: The Building of the "Most Remote Temple" at Jerusalem
Story III: The Youth who wrote a letter of complaint about his rations to the King
Story IV: Bayazid and his impious sayings when beside himself
Story V: The Three Fishes
Story VI: Moses and Pharaoh
Story VII: The Courtier who quarreled with his Friend for saving his Life
Story VIII: The Prince who, after having been beguiled by a Courtesan, returned to his True Love
Story IX: The Mule and the Camel

The Masnavi is divided into six books, and Rumi wrote prefaces for each book. The earliest complete manuscript (the "Konya manuscript") was completed in December, 1278 (five years after Rumi's death).
• Books 1 and 2: They "are principally concerned with the nafs, the lower carnal self, and its self-deception and evil tendencies."
• Books 3 and 4: These books share the principal themes of Reason and Knowledge. These two themes are personified by Rumi in the Biblical and Quranic figure of the Prophet Moses.
• Books 5 and 6: These last two books are joined by the universal ideal that man must deny his physical earthly existence to understand God's existence.

• Language: English
• Publisher: E-Kitap Projesi
• Release date: Jan 15, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311802705

Mevlana Rumi

Mevlana, bugünkü Afganistan sınırları içerisinde yer alan, horasan bölgesindeki Belh şehrinde 1207 yılında dünyaya gelmiştir. Asıl adı Muhammed Celaleddin'dir. "Mevlaya ait olan" anlamına gelen Mevlana ismi, kendisine genç yaşta ders okutmaya başladığı sıralarda verilmiştir. Anadolulu anlamına gelen Rumi ismi ise kendisine batılılarca verilmiş bir lakaptır. Mevlana, gelmiş geçmiş en büyük tasavvufçulardandır. Tasavvuf bir insan sanatıdır ve Mevlana da ömrünün çoğu döneminde insanlara hizmet için çalışmış, halk tarafından sevilen ve sayılan ayrıca bir tasavvuf şairidir. Mevlana henüz 9 yaşındayken çok büyük zorluklar içinde babası Bahâeddin Veled ve annesi Mümine Hatun ile birlikte Konya'ya göç etmişlerdir. 1225 yılında Şerefeddin Lala'nın kızı olan Gevher Hatun ile Karamanda evlenmiştir. Mevlana'nın Allah aşkını konu alan şiirleri ve sözleri günümüzde hala önemini yitirmemiştir. Çoğu ders kitaplarında, bazı romanlarda konu olan Mevlana, unutulmayacak bir geçmişe sahiptir. Zira kendisi Allah yolunda kalbini eritmiş, nefsini öldürmüş büyük bir tasavvufçudur.

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Masnawi Sacred Texts of Islam

{BOOK FOUR & ILLUSTRATED}

By

Mevlana Rumi

SMASHWORDS EDITION

* * * * *

PUBLISHED BY

Mevlana Rumi by e-Kitap Projesi

Copyright, 2014 by M. Rumi

ISBN: 978-1-3118-0270-5

Istanbul, 2014

* * * * *

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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Preface (About the Masnawi Book of Mevlana)

The "Masnawi" is Rumi's greatest poetic work, composed during the last years of his life. He began it when he was between the ages of 54-57 [about 1258-1261]¹ and continued composing its verses until he died in 1273 (with the last story remaining incomplete). It is a compendium of sufi stories, ethical teachings, and mystical teachings. It is deeply permeated with Qur'anic meanings and references. Rumi himself called the Masnavi "the roots of the roots of the roots of the (Islamic) Religion... and the explainer of the Qur'an [wa huwa uSûlu uSûlu uSûlu 'd-dîn... was kashshâf al- Qur'ân] (Masnavi, Book I, Preface).

Its full name is name is Mathnawî-yé Ma`nawî, which means Rhyming Couplets of Deep Spiritual Meaning. The name Mathnawî (pronounced Masnavî in Persian) means couplets in Arabic [because the second half of the verse (in Arabic, thanî) rhymes with the first]. It is the name of a type of poetry (called mathnawî). The second word, Ma`nawî, means significant, real, meaningful, spiritual in Arabic. The following is an example of the particular mathnawi meter used by Rumi (there are other mathnawi meters used by other Persian sufi poets): XoXX XoXX XoX. The rhymes in the first three couplets of Rumi's Masnavi are â-yat mê-ko-nad, -îda-and, -âq":

"BESH-na-WEEN NAY CHOON shi-KAA-YAT MEE-ko-NAD

AZ jo-DAA-EEY-HAA hi-KAA-YAT MEE-ko-NAD

KAZ na-YES-TAAN TAA ma-RAA BOB-REE-da-AND

DAR na-FEE-RAM MAR-do ZAN NAA-LEE-da-AND

SEE-na KHWAA-HAM SHAR-ha SHAR-HA AZ fi-RAAQ

TAA be-GOO-YAM SHAR-he DAR-DE ISH-ti-YAAQ"

Translation:

"LISTEN TO THE REED (FLUTE), HOW IT IS COMPLAINING! IT IS TELLING ABOUT SEPARATIONS,

(SAYING), 'EVER SINCE I WAS SEVERED FROM THE REED FIELD, MEN AND WOMEN HAVE LAMENTED IN (THE PRESENCE OF) MY SHRILL CRIES.

(BUT) I WANT A HEART (WHICH IS) TORN, TORN FROM SEPARATION, SO THAT I MAY EXPLAIN THE PAIN OF YEARNING..'"

The Beginning Story of Masnawi

The story of how the beginning of the composition of the Masnavi has been told in the hagiography written by Aflaki (written between 1318-53), a disciple of Rumi's grandson:

Sirâjuddîn, the Mathnawi-reciter [masnavi-khwân] at the Tomb (of Rumi) told the story that the reason for the composition of the book of the Masnavî-yé Ma`nawî, which is the Revealer of the secrets of the Qur'an was: One day Hazrat-i... Husâmuddîn [Chelebi-- Rumi's closest disciple], may God sanctify his precious secret, found out that some of the friends, in complete relish and great love, were making serious efforts to study the 'Book of the Divine' [Ilâhî-Nâma] of (the sufi poet) Hakîm (Sanâ'î) and the 'Speech of the Birds' [ManTiqu 'T-Tayr] and the 'Book of Misfortune' [MuSîbat-Nâma] of (the sufi poet) Farîduddîn `ATTâr, and (who) were delighted by (studying) their (mystical) secrets and (accounts of) the unusual spiritual amorousness (of the lovers of God) displayed by them. ..... One night, he found Hazrat-i Mawlana [= Rumi] alone. He bowed and said, 'The collections of odes [ghazalîyât] have become plentiful.... (But) if there could be a book with the quality of the 'Book of the Divine' of Hakîm (Sanâ'î), yet in the (mathnawî) meter of the 'Speech of the Birds,' so that it might be memorized among the knowers and be the intimate companion of the souls of the lovers... so that they would occupy themselves with nothing else...' At that moment, from the top of his blessed turban, he [Rumi] put into Chelebî Husâmuddîn's hand a portion (of verses), which was the Explainer of the secrets of Universals and particulars. And in there were the eighteen verses of the beginning of the Masnavi: 'Listen to this reed, how it tells a tale, complaining of separations' up to. 'None (who is) 'raw' can understand the state of the 'ripe.' Therefore, (this) speech must be shortened. So farewell.'

The Masnavi is divided into six books, and Rumi wrote prefaces for each book. The earliest complete manuscript (the Konya manuscript) was completed in December, 1278 (five years after Rumi's death). In a recent printed edition of this manuscript (by Dr. Tôfîq Sobhânî), the total number of lines is 25,575 (Book I, 4019 lines; II, 3721; III,4811; IV, 3855; V, 4240; VI, 4929) R. A. Nicholson was the first to translate the entire Masnavi into English (1926-34). Unfortunately, he did not have access to this earliest manuscript until he had translated through Book III, line 2835. From line 2836, onwards, however, his printed edition is based on the Konya manuscript. As a result,the first two and a half books of his translation are based on less earlier manuscripts which contain numerous improvements. (In Nicholson's printed edition, the total number of lines is 25,632 (Book I, 4003 lines; II, 3810; III, 4810; IV, 3855; V, 4238; VI, 4916.)

Over the centuries, many such improvements have been added to the Masnavi, with the result that many lovers of the Masnavi in Iran, India, and Pakistan have editions which contain more than two thousand extra verses (including many well-loved verses which were not composed by Rumi).

Reviews for Masnawi Sacred Texts of Islam

[Besa · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Amazing!! I cannot have enough of these volumes and what a wonderful job you did on translation. Thank you, endlessly!