M6:1333 — تهلکه‌ست این صبر و پرهیز ای فلان / خوش بکوبش تن مزن چون دیگران

Translation: O so-and-so, this patience and abstinence is a peril; strike it well, do not hold back like others. Meaning: This verse presents a sick character's justification for acting on aggressive impulses, arguing that self-restraint and patience are dangerous for them.

This verse is embedded within a profound and meaningful story from the Masnavi, where Mowlana recounts the encounter between a Sufi dervish and a tormented, sick individual. The sick person, suffering from a wasting disease (known as daq), presents an argument to justify his violent act of slapping the Sufi, which is encapsulated in this couplet. He claims that a physician has advised him that if he does not fulfill his desires and impulses, he will die. Consequently, he regards any form of 'patience and abstinence' (ṣabr-o parhīz) as a 'peril' (tahlika) that will lead to his demise. Therefore, he resolutely declares: 'strike it well' (khūsh bikūbash), meaning, thoroughly demolish this patience and abstinence, or annihilate anything that obstructs my desires. His emphasis on 'do not hold back like others' (tan mizan chūn dīgarān) indicates his unwillingness to retreat from his impulses like other people.

In Mowlana's view, this utterance by the sick person is not a mystical teaching, but rather an unveiling of a common ailment of the human soul. Mowlana clearly states in the subsequent verses that 'people are afflicted by daq and helpless' (khalq ranjūr-e daq-o bīchāre-and), meaning many people suffer from a spiritual sickness that leaves them 'helpless' and desperate. From his perspective, this state of torment makes them susceptible to the 'deceit of the devil' (khadʿ-e dīv), leading them to become 'slap-addicts' (sīlī-bāra); that is, with the slightest provocation or excuse, they are ready to harm and strike others. This propensity for violence sometimes stems from anger and lack of self-control, and at other times from a desire to torment others or from sadism, all of which are 'the deceit of the devil.'

Mowlana emphasizes that these 'tormented ones' are 'greedy in harming the innocent' (dar īẓā-ye bī-jurmān ḥarīṣ) and 'constantly seeking flaws in one another's backs' (dar qafā-ye hamdīgar juyān-e naqīṣ). This means they obsessively pursue faults in others while remaining oblivious to their own shortcomings. It is here that Mowlana, with an interrogative and awakening tone, asks: 'O you who strike the innocent from behind, why do you not see your own back?' (ay zananda-ye bī-gunāhān rā qafā / dar qafā-ye khūd namī-bīnī chērā?). This question is an invitation to profound introspection and a reminder of the valuable saying of Imam Ali (AS): 'Blessed is he whose own faults keep him busy from the faults of others.' Through this story and its exposition, Mowlana subtly critiques such egoistic justifications and the tendency to overlook one's own faults while targeting others.

Key takeaways

• This verse symbolizes the warped perception of individuals trapped by desire, who view patience and self-restraint as a 'peril' rather than a virtue.
• Mowlana illustrates that egoistic justifications for violence and harm stem from 'the deceit of the devil' and spiritual ailments.
• Many people, like the 'sick one' in the story, are prone to striking others and finding fault in them.
• The verse serves as an invitation to introspection: to examine one's own flaws before seeking out defects in others.