M6:2928 — بیست بار آن گاو تازد گرد مرج / تا کند آن خصم را در شاخ درج

Translation: Twenty times that bull charges around the marj (meadow) / So that it may impale that foe on its horn. Meaning: This verse portrays the blind, futile rage of a bull whose precious jewel has been stolen and hidden beneath mud. Unable to discern the true enemy or the hidden reality, it charges repeatedly, expressing its fury through instinctual violence.

This verse is drawn from Rumi's delightful allegory of the Sea Bull and the Kaviyan Jewel in the Mathnawi, which he employs to elucidate the grave error of judging by appearances and neglecting inner realities. The story goes thus: a great bull brings a precious jewel from the depths of the sea, places it on a meadow (marj) at night, and grazes by its radiant light. A cunning merchant, lying in wait, emerges, covers the jewel with mud and silt (lajam) to make it appear dark and worthless, and then hides himself in a tree.

It is at this juncture that our verse resonates with the bull's furious outcry: "Twenty times that bull charges around the marj / So that it may impale that foe on its horn." The bull cannot find its jewel; it no longer sees the light that illuminated its night. Instead, it perceives only the mud that conceals. This ignorance and rage drive the bull into a blind and aimless assault. It does not recognize the true enemy, and in its lack of insight, it unleashes its fury upon nothing, or upon a false target.

Immediately, Rumi connects this parable to the story of Iblis and Adam. He states: "For that Iblis is blind and deaf to the text of clay / How can the bull know that a jewel is in the mud?" Iblis, in Rumi's rendition, is the unseeing sea bull who perceived only the clay (tin) of Adam's existence, failing to recognize the divine spirit and hidden jewel within. To Iblis, Adam was merely a lump of earth, and thus he refused to prostrate himself—just as the bull, seeing only mud, recoiled from the jewel concealed beneath it. This vividly illustrates the fatal flaw of judging solely by external forms, and how it can prevent one from apprehending deeper truths.

The philosophy behind this concealment is also present in the Mathnawi: "Many a golden coin is blackened / So that it may be safe from plunder and harm." At times, to preserve a jewel or a sublime value, it is hidden beneath an unappealing or even "ill-reputed" exterior, safeguarding it from the avarice of the unworthy and the malice of ill-wishers. This also resonates with the path of the Malamatiyya, mystics who deliberately cultivated a "bad name" to shun public praise and preserve the purity of their inner spiritual practice. Ordinary people (like the bull) would see only this "blackened" exterior, oblivious to the radiant essence within.

Furthermore, Rumi extends this blindness to our own human condition, an "alienation from self" (az khod biganegi). We, too, like the bull, possess a divine jewel within, concealed beneath the mud of the body and worldly attachments. The divine command of "ihbiṭū" (descend!) cast us into this worldly abyss, and like Iblis and that bull, we have forgotten our true selves amidst this mire. We no longer know that "we are jewels," and not only do others fail to recognize us, but we ourselves fail to recognize who we are, engaging in aimless rages and confusions (like the bull's charging), while the jewel of our existence awaits discovery. Yet, the "people of the heart" (ahl-i dil) and "traders of truth" know that within this mud, a jewel is hidden, whereas any superficial "mud-digger" (gulkāv) is incapable of perceiving it.

Key takeaways

• Judging by appearances prevents us from grasping hidden truths and leads to futile rage.
• Blind fury and actions born of it yield nothing but exhaustion and failure.
• The human essence is a jewel hidden beneath the mud of the body and worldly attachments; often, we ourselves are oblivious to it.
• Divine wisdom or the sagacity of mystics sometimes conceals truths in unappealing guises to protect them from the unworthy.
• The bull's error in not recognizing the jewel beneath the mud mirrors Iblis's error in not recognizing the divine spirit within Adam's clay.