Read› Daftar 4› The complete story of that lover who fled from the watchmen into an unknown garden, where he found his beloved, and in his joy, he prayed for the watchmen, saying, 'Perhaps you dislike a thing and it is good for you'› beyt 53
M4:53 — مر عسس را ساخته یزدان سبب / تا ز بیم او دود در باغ شب
M4:53
Meaning · به زبانِ تو — Your language · AI
This couplet states that God used the terrifying night-watchman as an instrument to drive the fleeing lover into the garden where he would unexpectedly find his beloved.
This couplet is the hinge-point of the story, revealing the divine providence hidden within a seemingly disastrous event. A lover, pursued by the city's night patrol (ʿasas), flees in terror. His flight leads him to leap into a random, dark garden for safety. What appears to be a misfortune is, in fact, a divinely arranged 'cause' (sabab).
The watchman, an agent of fear and state power, becomes an unwitting instrument of God's grace. The fear he inspires is the force that propels the lover not just to safety, but to the very place where his beloved happens to be. The lover's desperate act of running from what he hates leads him directly to what he loves.
Rumi uses this narrative to illustrate a core Sufi and Quranic principle, explicitly cited in the story's title: "It may be that you dislike a thing while it is good for you" (Quran 2:216). The 'disliked thing' (the chase) is the necessary cause for the 'good thing' (the union). The beyt shifts the perspective from the lover's panic to a God's-eye view, where even apparent evils and worldly threats are woven into a larger tapestry of benevolent purpose.
- عسس
- ʿasas; the night-watch, city patrol, or night police. An often feared figure of state authority in classical Islamic cities.
- یزدان
- Yazdān; an ancient Persian name for God, often used in poetry alongside the Arabic 'Allah'. It evokes the singular, worship-worthy Being.
- سبب
- sabab; an Arabic loanword meaning cause, means, or instrument. In a theological context, it refers to a 'secondary cause' through which God's will is enacted in the world.
- مر ... را
- mar...rā; an archaic grammatical construction in Classical Persian used to mark and emphasize the direct object of a sentence. Here, 'mar ʿasas rā' places strong focus on 'the night-watchman' as the object of God's action.
Discussion — Ask about this beyt — answered from the Masnavi, every verse cited
Your conversation stays on this device unless you share it.
What readers asked0
No questions shared yet — yours could be the first.