Masnavi M1:5 — بخش ۱ - سرآغاز — من به هر جمعیّتی نالان شدم / جفت بدحالان و خوش‌حالان شدم

I have cried out in every company, I have kept fellowship with the miserable and the joyful.

Imagery & metaphor. The reed-soul continues its narration, describing its experience in the world of multiplicity. The image is of a wandering minstrel, moving through every type of gathering (jam'īyat), from the somber to the celebratory. Its song is constant—a lament (nālān)—but its audience is varied. It becomes a companion (joft) to both the "ill-conditioned" (bad-hālān), those lost in sorrow and sin, and the "well-conditioned" (khosh-hālān), those content with their worldly state or superficial piety. The reed’s music is for everyone, regardless of their spiritual state (hāl). It does not discriminate, offering its song of longing to all who will listen.

Mystical meaning. This beyt describes the universal address of the divine message, as articulated by the prophet or the spiritual guide. The guide, like the reed, enters into the human drama in all its forms. He does not remain aloof in an ascetic retreat but engages with humanity in its "every company." His message—the lament for our separation from God—is relevant to all, though it will be heard differently by each.

For the bad-hālān, the miserable and broken, the reed’s song is a commiseration, a voice that understands their pain and points to its true source, which is not worldly misfortune but spiritual exile. For the khosh-hālān, the happy and complacent, the reed’s song is a disturbance, a haunting melody that hints at a deeper joy they have not yet tasted and reveals the hollowness of their worldly pleasures. The guide’s task is to be a companion to both, to meet each person where they are. He sits with the sinner and the saint, the despairing and the self-satisfied, and in the language of their own state, he sings the one song of return to the Origin, hoping to awaken the memory of union in every heart.

Threads. This reflects the prophetic model of engaging with all strata of society, as the Prophet Muhammad did. The concept of hāl (spiritual state) is a technical term in Sufism, and the idea that the guide must minister to people in their various states is a key aspect of spiritual direction (irshād).