M6:2464 — سوی جامع می‌شد آن یک شهریار / خلق را می‌زد نقیب و چوبدار

Translation: Toward the congregational mosque that ruler went; His marshals and mace-bearers struck and drove away the people. Meaning: This verse illustrates the tyranny of rulers, depicting how even when ostensibly performing a good deed like going to the mosque, they treat the populace with violence and disregard.

This verse presents a vivid and stark image of tyranny and hypocrisy in rulers. Mowlana introduces this story immediately after discussing how ordinary, self-serving people, even when offering service to a 'great master,' never do so 'without corrupt motives,' and asks, 'If this is their good deed, what would be their evil?' Indeed, this ruler embodies that very superficially 'good' act which secretly harbors immense 'evil.'

I personally witnessed this exact scene during a trip to the Soviet Union many years ago. Police, armed with truncheons, cleared the path for our car—we were guests of the Kremlin—shooing other drivers aside. This tradition of 'get out of the way!' is an ancient one in power-driven systems; from the 'gold-belted servants' in Manuchehri's poetry who formed lines to clear a path for the king, to the present day. It shows that the nature of oppression and arrogance in rulers, despite changes in form, has remained consistent throughout history.

Mowlana continues by describing how a 'disheartened' and 'innocent' man is severely beaten. Bleeding, he turns to the king and exclaims: 'Behold the manifest injustice, why do you ask of the hidden? If this is your good deed, going to the mosque, what then will be your evil and heavy burden, O mighty one?' This statement seems to encapsulate all of Mowlana's ironies and protests against this type of 'good deed' tainted with 'evil.' He describes going to the congregational mosque as a good act, but in practice, it brings nothing but harm and oppression to the people. 'Vizr' (وزر) here refers to the heavy burden of sin and oppression, not a righteous load. In essence, if this is your 'good,' imagine the scale of your 'evil' when you truly unleash it!

Mowlana then delves into a deeper discussion, stating: 'It is better for a wolf to encounter a saint, than for an evil self to encounter a saint.' Here, Mowlana makes a fundamental distinction between animal malice and human malevolence. In his view, although a wolf 'is most tyrannical' – though I must here express a partial disagreement with Mowlana; we cannot attribute the concept of tyranny to animals, as tyranny is a 'second-order activity,' as the analytical philosopher Gilbert Ryle put it. Eating or tearing is a 'first-order activity,' but eating 'tyrannically' is a 'second-order activity' that requires an understanding of justice and usurpation, which an animal lacks. Therefore, it is more accurate to say a wolf is 'most predatory' rather than tyrannical – but a wolf 'lacks that culture and cunning and trickery.' 'Farhang' (فرهنگ) here means trickery and stratagem, not its modern connotation. An animal does not deceive; it acts recklessly and without calculation. However, a human, through cunning and deceit, gains a hundredfold power in oppression, and it is this very cunning that entraps him. This is a key insight in Mowlana's anthropology: the primary danger lies not in natural predatoriness, but in the conscious cunning and guile of humanity, which can be far more perilous than any wolf or dragon.

Key takeaways

• Outwardly good deeds, especially when coupled with oppression, reveal hypocrisy and hidden malevolence.
• The violence and coercion of rulers are ancient and global phenomena, repeating from antiquity to the present day.
• Humans, possessing 'cunning' and 'guile' (farhang), gain a destructive power far exceeding the natural predatoriness of animals.
• Unlike animals whose behavior is instinctual, human oppression is a 'second-order' and conscious act, making them worthy of critique and condemnation.
• The 'heavy burden' (vizr) in this context refers to sin and injustice, indicating that the hidden intention behind actions determines their true value.