M6:1555 — نیستش بر خر نشاندن مجتهد / نقش هیزم را کسی بر خر نهد

Translation: It is not for a mujtahid to be seated on a donkey; No one places the image of firewood upon a donkey to carry. Meaning: This verse, spoken by a judge, implies that a person who has spiritually departed from worldly forms cannot be judged or burdened by conventional societal standards, just as real firewood, not its mere image, is placed on a donkey for transport.

This verse, uttered by a judge in a Masnavi tale, presents a subtle yet profound allegory. We encounter an individual seemingly guilty of an offense, yet the judge refuses to prosecute or punish him. The judge's rationale is that this person, though outwardly alive, has in essence 'died' to worldly life—a spiritual, not physical, demise. Rumi frequently speaks of the seeker's 'hundred deaths' (روزی صد بار مرا می‌کشی), referring to the repeated annihilation of the ego in the path of love. This death is akin to being 'killed by the pleasure of the just spear' (کشته از ذوق سنان دادگر), where the lover yearns for more wounds, for deeper spiritual oblivion.

The judge, in this beyt, articulates the distinction between a spiritual entity and a merely apparent, worldly one. He states: 'You have seen many dead in graves; but see the grave within the dead, O blind one!' (بس بدیدی مرده اندر گور تو / گور را در مرده بین ای کور تو). This means, while you see the dead placed in graves, this person is so detached from the world that it is as if the grave itself has swallowed him whole. Such an individual cannot be judged by worldly laws. The mujtahid here symbolizes the law, jurisprudence, and worldly judgment. A mujtahid is a jurist who issues decrees for the living, but this 'living dead' person lies outside the purview of his judgment. To place a mujtahid on a donkey implies that he is subject to societal judgment and bears worldly responsibilities.

However, the judge absolves the individual in question of such responsibility. The analogy of 'No one places the image of firewood upon a donkey' is key to this understanding. You cannot place a mere image of firewood on a donkey and expect it to carry real logs; the donkey is meant for actual firewood. This individual, from the judge's perspective, is an 'image,' not a 'real existence' in the social world. He has become formless (bī-ṣūratī), stripped of worldly forms. This formlessness is one of the most crucial insights in the Masnavi, that the world of forms originates from the formless. Such a being transcends the realm of 'grammar' (naḥw) and belongs to the world of 'effacement' (maḥw); where worldly rules and syntax cease to apply, and only annihilation and non-being prevail. This is the precise point where Rumi distinguishes himself from Hafez; Hafez is architecturally inclined to build a new world, but Rumi is immersed in the primordial architecture where complaints about the structural flaws of existence are meaningless. For Rumi, this separation is a journey, not a catastrophe, and this individual is on his own journey, to be measured by the standard of separation from the Beloved, not by separation from society.

Key takeaways

• Worldly standards are insufficient for judging spiritual states.
• Spiritual death (fana) frees the self from the constraints of outward laws.
• The mujtahid symbolizes worldly judgment, while 'the image of firewood' represents the inefficacy of lifeless appearances against existential reality.
• This verse points to formlessness (bī-ṣūratī) and liberation from form as a key insight in the Masnavi.
• The analogy demonstrates that what is not real cannot bear real responsibilities or consequences.