M6:1119 — گفت آن را من نخواهم گفت چون / گفت او واپس‌روست و بس حرون

Translation: The man said: "I do not want that one." The Amir asked: "Why?" He replied: "Because it is backward-moving and very unruly." Meaning:* A guest refuses a horse offered by the Amir, explaining that the horse always moves backward instead of forward and is exceedingly stubborn and ill-tempered.

This verse recounts a profound story in the Mathnawi, which Mawlana uses to elaborate on the nature of the nafs (soul/self) and its proper management. A guest asks an Amir for a horse, but when presented with a piebald horse (as'hab), he refuses, stating: "I do not want that one." Upon the Amir's query, "Why?", the guest replies that "it is backward-moving and very unruly."

Mawlana leverages this anecdote to critique common approaches to self-purification. Here, the backward-moving horse symbolizes the rebellious nafs or human desires and appetites that might lead one astray from their true destination. Many Sufis and ethical schools believed that carnal desires and instincts should be uprooted and entirely eliminated. However, Mawlana, drawing on the Amir's wisdom in this narrative, offers a distinct answer.

The Amir then suggests that if the horse moves backward, the man should reverse the saddle and turn the horse's tail towards the desired destination, allowing its backward movement to, in fact, carry him forward to his goal. This is the crucial point. Through this parable, Mawlana teaches us not to eradicate or tear out anything from the soul, but rather to refine and manage it. Victor Hugo articulates a similar sentiment: "Do not take anything from the soul; reform it." Desires and appetites, though seemingly obstructive, can, if properly directed and their 'object' transformed, even become aids on the journey to the ultimate destination.

Mawlana, in essence, stands against philosophies that advocate the negation of desire and the renunciation of wanting as the path to salvation, such as found in Buddhism or in some poetry of Sa'eb Tabrizi, who states, "Paradise is in the abandonment of desire." Mawlana does not say, 'Do not desire,' but rather, 'Change the object of your desires'; cultivate a yearning for the hereafter and for eternity. This is precisely what Freud later termed 'sublimation': transforming the energy of a suppressed urge into a more exalted activity. Mawlana similarly suggests that when the gluttonous desire is curtailed, that same desire will re-emerge from the 'noble intellect' (aql-i sharif), meaning the energy previously expended on worldly and animalistic pursuits is redirected towards intellectual pursuits and rational inclinations. This demonstrates Mawlana's profound psychological insight: even seemingly base instincts can be utilized for achieving higher objectives. Do not abandon the unruly horse; tame it and bring it into the service of your purpose.

Key takeaways

• Instincts and desires should not be eradicated, but rather their 'object' and direction must be transformed.
• Wisdom lies in the correct utilization of inner faculties, even if they seemingly lead us away from our goal.
• Mawlana's path to self-purification is based on sublimation and redirection, not absolute suppression or negation.
• This approach fundamentally differs from the negation of desire in Buddhism and some Sufi schools.
• Mawlana, as a profound psychologist, demonstrates the possibility of harnessing every impulse towards perfection.