M1:352 — شاه واقف گشت از ایمان من / وز تعصب کرد قصد جان من

Translation: The king became aware of my faith, / And out of bigotry, sought my life. Meaning: The cunning vizier, in his act of pretense, speaks this couplet, claiming that the Jewish king discovered his true (Christian) faith and, driven by prejudice, attempted to take his life.

This couplet is spoken by the cunning vizier of the Jewish king; a vizier who has devised a plan to infiltrate the city's Christians by feigning Christianity and claiming persecution. He tells the king that he will pretend the monarch has discovered his true, inner faith — that he is Christian, not Jewish — and, out of bigotry and malice, has sought to take his life. This is, in effect, a reverse taqiyya (precautionary dissimulation); a dissimulation not to save one's life, but to deceive and infiltrate others. Through this pretense, the vizier aims to present himself as a victim of fanaticism and oppression to gain the trust of the Christians.

However, these words, though outwardly plausible and sorrowful, lack the scent of sincerity. Later in the story, Mawlana elucidates this manner of speaking with poignant metaphors: 'Your words are like a needle in bread.' This means speech that appears edible and acceptable on the surface, but covertly contains a hidden needle that pierces the listener's soul and wounds the mouth. Worse still is the metaphor of 'ergot seeds in bread' (تخم صرع در نان); like bread in which the ergot fungus (causing 'saint Anthony's fire') is hidden—if eaten, it superficially satisfies hunger but internally sickens and disturbs the soul, leading to delirium. These are the words of hypocrites: 'Outwardly, their words speak of Divine Unity and Sacred Law / But inwardly, they are like ergot seeds in bread.' Through these allegories, Mawlana unmasks the nature of the vizier's speech: outwardly appealing and victimized, but at its core, tainted with deceit, venomous, and destructive.

Key takeaways

• Deception under the guise of victimhood: The vizier's claim of faith and the king's bigotry is a ploy to deceive others.
• Reverse taqiyya: The vizier's trick is a form of dissimulation used for infiltration and misleading, not self-preservation.
• Poisonous words: Mawlana compares the deceitful vizier's speech to 'a needle in bread' and 'ergot seeds in bread'.
• The infiltrator's mask: This couplet serves as a warning about exploiting religious sentiments and claiming victimhood for insidious gain.