M6:2521 — آن یکی دو دست بر زانوزنان / وآن دگر از وهم واویلی‌کنان

Translation: One struck his hands upon his knees, And the other cried 'Wawaila!' from sheer dread. Meaning: This couplet vividly portrays the agitated and confused state of people when confronted with sudden, unconfirmed news, each reacting in their own way, driven by delusion and imagination.

This couplet is set within the story of a jester (dalgak) who frantically rushes into the city of Termez to deliver urgent news to the Sultan, only to fall silent before articulating his message. This unusual haste, followed by an equally unusual silence, plunges the entire city into chaos and anxiety, driving the populace into the realm of 'wahm' (dread or delusion) and 'khayālāt' (imaginations), each person presuming an imminent catastrophe based on their own conjectures.

Mowlana here depicts two distinct public reactions to this collective anxiety. One group is described as "striking their hands upon their knees"—a profound gesture of regret and dismay, as if lamenting an already-occurred disaster. Their unspoken sentiment is, "See what has befallen us? We are ruined!" This action signifies a deep despair, a premature acceptance of defeat in the face of an unknown calamity. These are individuals who have already surrendered, convinced that a great misfortune has struck.

The other group, however, is portrayed as "crying 'Wawaila!' from sheer dread" (az wahm wāwaylī-konān). 'Wawaila!' is a cry of terror, signaling a loss of psychological equilibrium in the face of the unknown. Unlike the first group, who are primarily steeped in sorrow and lament, this faction thrashes about in a formless, baseless fear, a fear generated by 'wahm' itself.

I see this as a powerful illustration of Mowlana's insight that often, people are "enslaved by their imaginations." Based on 'qiyās' (conjecture) and 'wahm,' each person casts their own 'fāl' (omen or guess), wondering "what fire has fallen into the felt" (chih ātish oftād andar palās), meaning, what disaster has struck the city. Mowlana masterfully paints a scene of mass psychology, demonstrating how uncertainty and an unusual act (like the jester's rush followed by his silence) can generate widespread 'gholghol o tashvīsh' (uproar and anxiety), rendering people 'hayrān o dang' (bewildered and dumbfounded), and driving them to irrational, emotional reactions. This is not merely a description of an event; it is a diagnosis of humanity's tendency to fill informational voids with its own fears and conjectures.

Key takeaways

• People's intense reactions are to ambiguity and uncertainty, not the news itself.
• Delusion and imagination as primary drivers of collective fear.
• Diverse reactions: some lamenting, others screaming in terror.
• Mowlana as a keen observer of mass psychology under duress.