M6:1674 — پس بگفتندش که از تو چست‌تر / مات او گشتند در دعوی مپر

Translation: Then they told him: "Those cleverer than you / Were checkmated by him; do not jump in with such claims." Meaning: They warned the Turk not to be so confident, for even those more cunning than he had been outsmarted and defeated by this tailor.

In this verse, Mowlana, through the voice of the storyteller, delivers a vital warning against human heedlessness. The line, "Do not jump in with such claims, for those cleverer than you were checkmated by him," is a direct admonition to the overly confident Turk. It signifies that the cunning tailor's victims are not few, nor are they necessarily simple-minded. On the contrary, many who were more agile and astute than the Turk have fallen prey to his tricks, finding themselves checkmated and defeated. This 'cleverness' (choost-tar) refers to the worldly sagacity that often inflates one's ego, blinding one to the deeper deceptions of time itself.

Mowlana employs the tailor in this narrative as a symbol of the "universal tailor" (darzī-ye ʿām) or the "tailor of time" (khayyāt-e rūzegār). This tailor not only stitches garments but also pilfers from them. Time, too, operates in a similar fashion with us: it stitches our lives together, yet simultaneously snips away and steals from them. How does it do this? Through the "jokes and deceits of the heavens" (lāgh va dastān-e falak), the frivolous words, tales, and jests that the tailor spun for the Turk, submerging him in laughter. These very laughs, these moments of heedlessness, are what steal our "cloth" (qamāsh), our precious capital of life and spiritual potential.

It is here that Mowlana reminds us, in a subsequent verse, to "not be so arrogant with your intellect." Such arrogance, combined with a disregard for the deceptions of time, leads to becoming "lost" (yāva shodan) in its stratagems and frauds. This is precisely the opposite of the self-effacement (maḥw) that Mowlana advocates in the face of absolute Being. These 'claims' (daʿvā), these assertions of one's own cunning, are in reality a veil over our true unawareness.

This tale serves as a warning to individuals whom Mowlana labels "aged children" (pīr-e teflān); that is, those who are old in years but remain childish in their raw inexperience, constantly seeking "jokes" (lāgh) and entertainment to distract themselves from reality. This "do not jump in" is a sharp jolt to awaken us. Life is a battlefield against the trickery of time—trickery that appears cloaked in sweet jests and alluring enchantments, all designed to steal our "Istanbul satin" while we, intoxicated by laughter, remain oblivious.

Key takeaways

• Overconfidence, even in the most cunning, can lead to deception.
• Mowlana's 'tailor of time' symbolizes life's deceptive nature, which steals our essence under alluring guises.
• Superficial entertainments (jokes and tales) serve as tools for heedlessness, diverting us from our true capital (life and opportunity).
• Arrogance born of self-reliant intellect renders one vulnerable to the world's stratagems.
• Vigilance and awareness against the world's seductive games are crucial for preserving life's true value.