M6:1664 — چونک دزدیهای بی‌رحمانه گفت / کی کنند آن درزیان اندر نهفت

Translation: When he spoke of the merciless thefts / Which those tailors commit in secret... Meaning: This verse marks a return to the story of the Turk and the Tailor, depicting the storyteller's revelation of the tailors' hidden deceits, which provokes the Turk's anger.

I have often stated in my lectures that Mowlana is a master of digression and return in narration. He embarks on a story, introduces a profound point, delves into philosophy or mysticism, and after a lofty flight, returns like a hunting falcon to the ground of his narrative. This particular verse is one such narrative turning point. Here, Mowlana closes the parenthetical discussion he had opened, returning to the profound tale of the Turk and the Tailor. Prior to this verse, the storyteller had spoken of the tailors' merciless deceits and cunning; thefts that occurred "in secret" (andar nehoft) and with a cruel disregard for others. This exposé by the storyteller itself evokes a deeper concept in the Masnavi: the unveiling of hidden secrets. Mowlana states elsewhere, "When God wills to tear someone's veil / He inclines him to scorn the pure," meaning if God desires to reveal someone's secret, He prompts that person to criticize the righteous, thereby leading to their own disgrace. This is a theological principle: "God sees it, though He is Concealer by nature / But if you exceed the limit, He is your betrayer." God is the coverer of faults, but if one transgresses limits and their sin becomes egregious, He Himself will become the revealer and "betrayer" (ghammāz) of their secrets. Thus, the tailors committed theft "in secret," but the storyteller (who, in his own right, can be a tongue of truth) reveals it. This disclosure is not merely a plot device; it is a symbol of the manifestion of hidden truths. Just as the Day of Judgment is the "Day the secrets are revealed" (Yawm tubla al-sarāʾir), so too in this world, at times, the conditions for the "unveiling of the cover" (kashf-e ghaṭā) are made ready. This exposure of thefts, as Mowlana explains in subsequent verses, greatly agitates and angers the Turk. His anger stems from the fact that a secret has been uncovered, one in which he himself might have had a hand or with which he was somehow connected. This emotional reaction is a sign of his entanglement with those hidden secrets. The story of the tailor and the Turk, ostensibly a simple narrative of cunning and deception, delves deeply into the mechanisms of revealing hidden sins and the human reaction to them, implicitly teaching that nothing remains perpetually concealed, and all that is hidden will one day emerge from behind the veil.

Key takeaways

• Mowlana frequently employs a narrative technique of 'digression and return,' and this verse signals a return to the main storyline.
• The storyteller here acts as an unveiler of 'hidden secrets,' a key concept in the Masnavi regarding how truths come to light.
• Concealed sins, even if committed mercilessly, are ultimately revealed, as 'God sees it, though He is Concealer by nature / But if you exceed the limit, He is your betrayer.'
• The Turk's anger at the exposure of the tailors' cunning suggests his emotional or even practical connection to those hidden secrets.