M4:57 — از عوانی مر ورا آزاد کن / آنچنان که شادم او را شاد کن

This couplet is the heart of the lover's prayer for the very person who, moments before, was his persecutor. The lover's perspective has been radically transformed by an unexpected blessing. The watchman (ʿavānī), whose job is to inflict misery and who, as Rumi notes, thrives on the misfortune of others, became the unwitting instrument of the lover's union with his beloved. Fleeing from this apparent threat led him directly to his greatest desire.

In his ecstatic state, the lover recognizes this paradoxical chain of cause and effect. His prayer is not just a simple 'thank you' to God; it is a profound expression of empathy born from gratitude. He wishes for the watchman not only material reward but a fundamental transformation: to be freed from a soul-crushing job and to experience the same quality of spiritual joy that has overcome him. This act demonstrates a key Sufi insight, articulated in the verses that follow: what appears as an absolute evil (the malicious watchman) is, from a higher perspective, a relative and even necessary part of a benevolent divine plan. The 'poison' for one becomes the 'antidote' (tiryāq) for another.