M6:2461 — یا در آن لوتی که آن سوزان بود / یا بر آن پل کز خلل ویران بود

Translation: Or (they put them forward) at a meal that was burning hot, Or on a bridge that was ruined by defect. Meaning: This verse describes the deceptive ways of ignoble people who outwardly honor elders by pushing them forward into dangerous situations, thus shielding themselves from harm.

This verse appears within the tale of the camel, cow, and ram, a story about boasting and the logic of power. The ram proposes a condition: the animal with the longest life should eat the found grass, following the prophetic tradition of prioritizing elders. However, Mawlana, with a sharp and critical tone, laments that in the age of the la'ām (ignoble, base people), respect for elders is shown in only two contexts—and these are precisely where danger lurks.

One is a lūt (meal) that is burning hot. The ignoble offer the hot food to the elders so that if its heat is searing, the elder burns and warns others to be patient. The other is a partially ruined pol (bridge) where the elder is sent first, so that if it collapses, the others remain safe. I myself have witnessed this, for instance, during a trip to the Soviet Union, where police, to clear the way, would use sticks to push ordinary people aside ahead of our convoy; not for our protection as guests, but to perform a display of power. Such stratagems and tricks are not confined to any specific era; Mawlana recounts this from the behavior of the ignoble of his time towards elders, illustrating how they practiced an 'inverted respect.'

This kind of 'service to a great Sheikh,' superficially rendered by the ʿām (common folk, opportunists), is always accompanied by a qarine-ye fāsed (corrupt pretext); that is, there's always an ulterior motive, and it's not done out of sincerity. It is here that Mawlana delves into the difference between human 'good' and 'evil,' concluding that human cunning far surpasses animal strength. Even if a wolf is setamgar (read: predatory), it lacks farhang and kayd o makr (trickery and deceit). Its ferocity is natural, but deceit is a second-order action that animals lack. As Gilbert Ryle explains in analytic philosophy, actions like critique, repentance, or deception are built upon primary actions and are unique to humans. This is precisely the animals' vulnerability compared to humans, for 'Otherwise, how would it fall into the trap?' Mawlana teaches us that the primary danger comes from human cunning, not the overt force of animals.

Key takeaways

• Outward respect among ignoble people often masks self-interest and deceit.
• Base individuals expose elders to danger to shield themselves from harm.
• The service rendered by common folk to spiritual masters is frequently driven by ulterior motives, not sincerity.
• Deceit and cunning are fundamental human traits distinguishing us from animals.
• Animal power is overt, but human trickery and 'farhang' (cunning) are more insidious and dangerous.
• The term 'farhang' in the Masnavi sometimes signifies stratagem and trickery.