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 64
M4:64 — بر همه زهر و برو تریاق بود / آن عوان پیوند آن مشتاق بود
M4:64
Meaning · به زبانِ تو — Your language · AI
The night watchman, whose job was to bring misery to others, became the unexpected cause of the lover's union with his beloved, acting as a remedy for his yearning.
This couplet is the pivot point in a story about a lover who, fleeing a brutal night watchman (ʿavān), accidentally finds his beloved in the garden where he takes refuge. Overjoyed, the lover begins to pray for the very guard who terrified him moments before.
Rumi uses this moment to introduce a core philosophical principle: the relativity of good and evil. An event or a person is rarely absolutely good or bad; its quality depends on the context and the outcome for a specific individual. The watchman's actions, which would be a "poison" for any other law-breaker, became a "theriac" (taryāq)—a legendary antidote—for the lover, curing his suffering of separation.
The second line reinforces this by stating that the guard, an agent of separation and punishment, paradoxically became the "link" (peyvand) that connected the yearning lover (mushtāq) to his goal. This illustrates the Qur'anic verse cited in the section title: "Perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you" (2:216). Rumi teaches that what appears to be a calamity can be a hidden grace, a harsh instrument delivering a divine gift.
- تریاق
- Taryāq (or theriac). A legendary, complex antidote in Greco-Persian medicine, believed to be a universal cure for poisons, especially snakebite. Metaphorically, it signifies a perfect remedy or a source of profound healing.
- عوان
- ʿAvān. An oppressive agent of the state; a guard, bailiff, or policeman, often with connotations of being cruel and unjust.
- پیوند
- Peyvand. A link, connection, bond, or joint. Here it signifies the means of union, the event that brought the lover and beloved together.
- مشتاق
- Mushtāq. One who is filled with longing or yearning (from the Arabic root sh-w-q). In Sufi poetry, it denotes the spiritual seeker who intensely desires union with the Divine Beloved.
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