M1:339 — شاه، از حِقْدِ جُهودانه چنان / گشت اَحوَل، کَالْاَمانْ یا رَب اَمان

Translation: The King, from such ḥiqd-i jehūdāna (Jewish-like/stubborn malice), Became aḥwal (squint-eyed), calling out: al-amān, yā Rabb, amān! (Refuge, O Lord, refuge!) Meaning: Driven by an intense, prejudiced and stubborn malice, the King's perception became so warped that he saw reality askew, leading him to commit terrible injustices.

Here, Rumi portrays a king so afflicted by ḥiqd-i jehūdāna that he becomes aḥwal, prompting one to exclaim, 'Refuge, O Lord, refuge!' Ḥiqd-i jehūdāna signifies an intense, stubborn, and malicious prejudice, not necessarily a direct indictment of the Jewish people, but rather a description of a blind fanaticism and obstinacy that corrupts one's inner vision. This malice, following Rumi's earlier discussion of a corrupt judge, is the very internal ailment that distorts the eye of the soul, making it aḥwal (squint-eyed); one who is aḥwal sees one thing as two, or perceives it as crooked and deformed. The king, blinded by this inner distortion, can no longer distinguish the oppressor from the oppressed. Under the delusion of defending the religion of Moses, he massacres thousands of innocent believers. This is the ultimate governmental decay: when the internal astigmatism of the ruler not only prevents him from seeing the truth but also turns faith into an instrument for justifying bloodshed and tyranny.

Rumi then introduces the king's vizier, described as Gabr (malevolent and irreligious, not necessarily Zoroastrian) and ashva-deh (cunning and deceptive). This vizier is so adept at trickery that he could 'tie knots on water' (bar āb az makr barbastī girih), a metaphor for the peak of cunning and artifice; something that seems impossible on the surface, but the cunning make it real. I have often argued that this very cunning manifests itself in our age as technology; technology is the concrete embodiment of such artifice and 'tying knots on water.' This imagery reveals how the ruler's warped perception paves the way for the viziers' machinations, utterly corrupting a government; a state where neither the king sees correctly nor his advisors engage in anything but trickery and deception. Through these parables, Rumi beautifully dissects the internal roots of corruption in governments and individuals, stemming from distorted perception and malice.

Key takeaways

• Blind prejudice and malice (ḥiqd-i jehūdāna) distort inner perception, making one 'squint-eyed' (aḥwal) and twisting reality.
• A ruler whose vision is warped by prejudice commits tyranny and slaughters innocents in the name of religion and justice.
• The internal corruption of leaders attracts the most cunning advisors, fostering an environment of deceit and trickery.
• Rumi uses terms like jehūdāna and Gabr to denote moral depravity and obstinacy, rather than specific ethnicities or religions.
• Cunning and artifice can reach such extremes as to 'tie knots on water,' making the impossible possible, much like technology in the modern era.