Leggi› Libro 4› La storia completa di quell'amante che fuggì dalla guardia in un giardino sconosciuto, vi trovò il suo amato e, nella sua gioia, pregò per la guardia, dicendo: "Può darsi che odiate qualcosa, ed è un bene per voi"› Distico 65
M4:65 — پس بد مطلق نباشد در جهان / بد به نسبت باشد این را هم بدان
M4:65
Significato · به زبانِ تو — La tua lingua · AI
This couplet states that absolute evil does not exist; things are only perceived as 'evil' or 'good' relative to the person or situation they affect.
This verse serves as the philosophical core of the preceding story. A lover, fleeing from a cruel night watchman, hides in a garden and unexpectedly finds his beloved there. Overjoyed, he begins to pray for the watchman. The watchman's action, which seemed evil, was the direct cause of the lover's supreme happiness. For the lover, the watchman's pursuit was a poison that turned into an antidote (taryāq).
Rumi uses this pivot to make a broader point about the relativity of good and evil. He argues that nothing is 'absolutely evil' (bad-e moṭlaq). An event or a thing is only judged as 'bad' from a limited, individual perspective. The verses that follow this one provide further examples: snake venom is life for the snake but death for a human; the sea is a garden for sea creatures but a grave for land creatures. The ultimate lesson is to suspend harsh, absolute judgments, recognizing that what appears as a calamity from one point of view might be a blessing from another, higher one.
- بد مطلق
- Absolute evil; evil that is unconditional and not dependent on context or perspective.
- به نسبت
- By relation; relative to. This phrase is the key to the couplet, indicating that a thing's quality (good or bad) is determined by its relationship to something else, not by an intrinsic nature.
- بدان
- Know! An imperative form of the verb 'to know' (dānestan), used here to emphasize a crucial point of wisdom for the reader.
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