M6:3620 — هم خر و خرگیر اینجا در گلند / غافلند این‌جا و آن‌جا آفلند

Translation: Both the donkey and its handler are stuck in the mud here; Here they are heedless, and there their stars have fallen. Meaning: Rumi states that both the foolish, deceived person and the deceptive trickster are equally mired in a shared predicament in this world, oblivious to truth; in the afterlife, they will face no salvation or rising fortune.

This verse presents a vivid image of the shared destiny of the deceiver and the deceived, a theme Rumi previously touched upon using terms like “agent and object” (فاعل و مفعول) and “highwayman and highway-stricken” (راه‌زن و راه‌زده). I have explicitly stated that both these groups, on the Day of Reckoning, are “black-faced and deserving of stoning.” This beyt re-articulates that verdict with a more potent metaphor.

Rumi here distinguishes between two crucial words, gūl and ghūl, to lead the audience to a deeper truth. Gūl refers to the foolish or naive person who is tricked; gūl zadan means to deceive and exploit someone's simplicity. In our literature, it is common: “You took me for a fool because I am simple-hearted.” But ghūl refers to the deceiver, the highwayman; the mythical creature that would appear in human form in deserts and mislead travelers. Nezami, in his Haft Peykar, tells a delightful story of ghūls hosting a feast, where a lost wanderer finds himself in a palace filled with fairies and delicacies, only to awaken in the morning to an empty desert.

With this clarification, the first hemistich, “Both the donkey and its handler are stuck in the mud here” (هم خر و خرگیر اینجا در گلند), becomes clear: the khar (donkey) is a metaphor for the gūl or the foolish, deceived one who easily stumbles onto the wrong path, while the khar-gīr (donkey-catcher/stealer) is an allusion to the ghūl or the deceptive highwayman who leads others astray. Both groups—both the one who is deceived and the one who deceives—are “stuck in the mud” (در گل) in this world; that is, they are mired in a shared predicament of misfortune and the consequences of their actions. Their situation is identical, and there is no escape, for “The fool and the ghoul who deceived him / Both must for salvation and triumph pine”—neither for the deceived is there salvation, nor for the deceiver is there victory.

The second hemistich, “Here they are heedless, and there their stars have fallen” (غافلند این‌جا و آن‌جا آفلند), emphasizes the heedlessness of both groups in this world and their eternal downfall in the next. “Here” (این‌جا) refers to this sensory world, where both groups are ghāfil (heedless, unaware) of the truth of existence and the ultimate outcome of their deeds. Heedlessness is a profound keyword in mysticism: either not knowing or refusing to know one's ultimate fate. This heedlessness in this world has a consequence in the afterlife: “there” (آن‌جا), meaning in the other realm, both are āfil. Āfil means setting or declining, just as a falling star no longer gives light. I have explained in my lectures that “the star of their fortune declines, it sets, and they fall into the dark well of night forever.” Thus, not only are they stuck and entangled in this world, but in the next, their star of prosperity will set forever, plunging them into eternal darkness.

This devastating judgment by Rumi indicates that in the court of divine justice, not only intention and awareness are criteria for judgment, but the consequences of actions are equally important. Even the deceived is not immune from the repercussions of their actions due to heedlessness and lack of vigilance. This statement is an invitation to universal awareness and responsibility, so that one neither deceives nor is deceived; for the ultimate outcome of both paths is to be stuck in the mud and to decline. The only way to liberation is repentance and return to God, which leads from the autumn of misery to the spring of felicity—a grace that the heedless deceived and deceivers are deprived of.

Key takeaways

• Both the deceived and the deceiver are trapped in a dismal fate in this world—one due to naivety, the other due to cunning.
• Both groups are “heedless” (ghāfil) of the truth and the consequences of their actions in their worldly lives.
• In the afterlife, the star of prosperity for both equally “falls” (āfil), plunging them into eternal darkness and decline.
• Divine justice considers not only intention but also holds the deceived responsible for their heedlessness and unawareness.
• This verse calls for complete vigilance and abstention from both deceiving and being deceived, as the consequences for both paths are the same.