M1:186 — شه فرستاد آن طرف یک دو رسول / حاذقان و کافیان بس عَدول

Translation: The King dispatched to that region one or two envoys, / Skillful, capable, and greatly just (ʿadūl). Meaning: The king sent two adept and trustworthy messengers to Samarkand to find the skilled goldsmith and bring him to court, as part of the physician's cunning plan.

Here, Rumi speaks of the king dispatching messengers to fetch the goldsmith. What immediately strikes us is the description of these envoys: ḥādhiqān o kāfiyān bas ʿadūl (skillful, capable, and greatly just). The epithet ʿadūl, meaning highly just and equitable, introduces a moral complexity to the narrative. Messengers described as just are tasked with deceiving the goldsmith – this is what Rumi refers to as ghurūr dādan in subsequent verses, meaning to beguile or trick, distinct from the modern Persian sense of pride. This contradiction between the messengers' epithet and their mission reveals a facet of Rumi's hidden wisdom: in this world, seemingly good deeds, even by the ʿadūl, sometimes serve other purposes and lead to sūʾ al-qaẓā (an evil fate).

I have often stressed that in Rumi's philosophical framework, kār az kār khīzad dar jahān (one action gives rise to another in the world). This means that one act becomes the genesis of a chain of other actions, perhaps unforeseen initially. The king's desire for the slave girl, seemingly a personal matter, eventually leads to the intervention of the divine physician, his cunning plan, and ultimately the death of the goldsmith. This hierarchy of events, with each step taken, reveals deeper layers of wisdom. The goldsmith, driven by greed and the desire for zar o khilʿat (gold and robes) and status with the king, goes be pāy-i khīsh tā sūʾ al-qaẓā (to an evil fate by his own feet). The term sūʾ al-qaẓā holds particular significance for me; Rumi uses ḥusn al-qaẓā (a good fate) elsewhere in the Masnavi, regarding Imam Ali at the end of the first book, which highlights the profound balance and order of the Masnavi from the perspective of some scholars. Rumi leaves nothing to chance; even a single word like sūʾ al-qaẓā is placed with careful consideration throughout the Masnavi.

This incident is a clear example of the 'kiss of death' motif in Christian literature – where Judas identifies Jesus with a kiss for the soldiers to arrest him. A kiss whose appearance is affection, but whose essence is deception and betrayal. Here too, the robes and silver, seemingly tokens of honor and prestige, are in reality the goldsmith's 'blood money'. The goldsmith is deceived by appearances and believes he is going towards a good end, but in truth, he is stepping towards annihilation. This is the central theme Rumi brings to its climax at the end of the goldsmith and slave girl story: ʿishq-hāyī k-az pay-i rangī būd / ʿishq nabūḍ ʿāqibat nangī būd (Loves that are for the sake of color / were not love; in the end they were shame). The goldsmith's greed for wealth and status, and the slave girl's initial attachment to the goldsmith's beauty, are both forms of ʿishq-i rangī (colored, superficial love); loves that, once the 'color' fades from the beloved's countenance, lead to 'shame' and disgrace. Thus, this verse is not merely the beginning of a physical journey, but the symbolic commencement of a journey into the depths of human motivations and the nature of loves, which reaches its full exposition in the subsequent parts of the goldsmith's tale.

Key takeaways

• The paradox of 'just' messengers carrying out a deceptive mission.
• The term ghurūr dādan means 'to deceive,' not 'to honor,' as per its Arabic root.
• The goldsmith's journey 'by his own feet to an evil fate' exemplifies predetermined destiny.
• The 'kiss of death' motif: a deceptive appearance concealing a destructive reality.
• This sequence of events illustrates Rumi's principle of kār az kār khīzad dar jahān (one action gives rise to another).
• The narrative sets the stage for Rumi's critique of ʿishq-i rangī (superficial loves).