M6:3903 — ای ز دلها برده صد تشویش را / نوبت تو شد بجنبان ریش را

Translation: O you who have relieved hearts of a hundred worries, Now it is your turn, shake your beard! (reveal your true power)

Meaning: Here, Rumi addresses scholars and advisors who preach but do not practice. He challenges them: you who resolve others' anxieties and offer counsel, now apply that very same wisdom and inherent power to yourself and reveal your true essence.

This couplet is Rumi’s fervent admonition to inactive scholars, unheeding counselors, and self-unpracticed preachers – those whose tongues are eloquent in advising others but who remain distant from their own counsel. I have often emphasized in my lectures that Rumi here presents a fundamental self-examination for everyone: does what you weave and articulate for others also clothe your own being and penetrate your soul?

The verse begins with a crucial address: "O you who have relieved hearts of a hundred worries." The addressee is someone who, ostensibly, has removed countless problems and anxieties from people's hearts; perhaps a teacher, a guide, or a philosopher who believes they have found solutions to human predicaments and present them to others. But immediately, the challenge arises: "Now it is your turn, shake your beard!" This phrase alludes to a well-known story in Persian culture where Sultan Mahmud, in disguise, encounters a group of thieves, each boasting of their unique skill. Sultan Mahmud, too, declares his skill: "If I shake my beard, I can save many from death and imprisonment." The next day, when the thieves are brought before the Sultan, his beard-shaking reminds them of the previous night, and they are saved. "Shaking the beard" here is a metaphor for revealing one's true, inherent power and skill; that innate ability which, in critical moments, can untangle knots, save one from peril, or elevate one to greatness.

In essence, Rumi asks: O capable one, O wise one who taught others, now it is your turn. Display for yourself the skill you used for others. Have you freed yourself from anxieties and worries? Have you warmed and illuminated yourself with the same knowledge that warmed others? And, with a sharp sarcasm, he continues: "If you have stolen this beard from dishonor / You have laughed at your own beard before." If the beard you shake is not authentic and truly yours, but rather “stolen” – meaning it's superficial or borrowed knowledge – then you have, in fact, laughed at yourself and exposed your own foolishness. This is a severe critique of empty pedantry and those who wear the garb of knowledge without truly embodying it.

This critique by Rumi must be understood within his broader criticism of the "weaving" (bāfendegī) of philosophers and formal mystics. I have often mentioned that the late Dr. Seyyed Jafar Shahidi referred to many intellectual achievements in this domain as bāfendegī – constructing a world of words and concepts that, while seemingly ornate, is ultimately like a baseless, empty house. Rumi, with the same tone, asks: "What you have intelligently woven for fifty years / Now wear a cloak from that fabric!" What has all this intellectual weaving and construction yielded for you? From all these fabrics, have you fashioned a garment to cover your own existential truth? It echoes the common proverb: "After all that grazing, where's your fat?" If knowledge and wisdom are only for others and do not lead us to self-knowledge and inner growth, it is nothing but loss and regret. The essence of all knowledge lies in "knowing who I am on the Day of Judgment."

This couplet is an invitation to authenticity, to practice what one preaches, and to genuine self-knowledge. It is a call that transcends the mere role of a teacher and reaches the stature of self-leadership. "The game is yours on the board / Bring yourself into your true nature and joy." This is no longer the time for lecturing others, but for finding yourself in your true nature and joy, and attending to your authentic self.

Key takeaways

• The paramount importance of self-knowledge and applying wisdom to oneself before advising others.
• Rumi's sharp critique of inactive scholars and unheeding preachers.
• "Shaking the beard" symbolizes revealing one's inherent, true power and skill.
• The peril of borrowed knowledge or a "stolen beard," which leads to disgrace rather than merit.
• Rejection of intellectual "weaving"—constructing elaborate yet fruitless conceptual frameworks.
• A call for authenticity in knowledge and wisdom, against empty pedantry.