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 63
M4:63 — او عوان را در دعا در میکشید / کز عوان او را چنان راحت رسید
M4:63
Meaning · به زبانِ تو — Your language · AI
The lover prayed for the very watchman who had pursued him, because that chase led him directly to the joy of finding his beloved.
This couplet is the pivot point in a story illustrating a core Quranic and Sufi principle: what appears to be a calamity can be a hidden blessing. A lover, fleeing a harsh night watchman (ʿavān), ducks into a garden only to find his beloved waiting there. The terror of the chase becomes the direct cause of his ultimate joy.
In this moment of profound gratitude, the lover's perspective is inverted. He no longer sees the watchman as an enemy but as an unwitting instrument of divine grace. His prayers, which might have been curses, are now filled with blessings for the man whose cruelty inadvertently brought him to paradise. The watchman's malice was, from a higher perspective, the very 'poison' that acted as an 'antidote' (taryāq) for the lover's suffering.
Rumi uses this story to move into a broader philosophical point, articulated in the verses that immediately follow: nothing in the world is absolutely good or evil. Goodness and evil are relative, depending on the context and the outcome. The watchman's action was malicious in intent, but its result for the lover was pure felicity. This illustrates how God can work through apparent opposition to bring about a desired good, a theme central to the Masnavi's understanding of divine providence.
- عوان
- An oppressor, a tyrannical agent, a cruel assistant to a ruler. In this story, it's used interchangeably with 'asas (عسس), meaning the night watchman or patrol, who acts as an antagonist.
- راحت
- Comfort, ease, peace, tranquility, or relief. Here it signifies the profound spiritual and emotional joy the lover experiences upon finding his beloved, a state of perfect contentment that erases all prior distress.
Discussion — Ask about this beyt — answered from the Masnavi, every verse cited
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