M6:1688 — پس بپیمود و بدید او روی کار / بعد از آن بگشاد لب را در فشار

Translation: Then he measured and saw the task before him; / After that, he opened his lips in idle talk (feshār). Meaning: This verse describes the tailor who, after measuring the customer's fabric, began to tell jokes and diverting stories to distract him, enabling the tailor to steal a piece of the cloth.

This verse stands as a poignant climax in Rumi's magnificent allegory of human heedlessness and squandered opportunity. The tailor here is the world personified—a deceptive artisan, who, with all its charm and wiles, is constantly tearing and sewing, not to clothe, but to steal. The Turk in the story embodies the unconscious human soul, surrendering the precious fabric of its life, like a valuable satin, into the cunning hands of this merciless worldly tailor. 'Then he measured and saw the task before him': The tailor, representing the world, carefully assesses its work. It knows well what it possesses and how to manage it; the world has its own design, meticulously setting its traps. And then, 'After that, he opened his lips in idle talk (feshār)': Here, the veil of deception is lifted. As we saw in the story of Moses and the Shepherd, feshār signifies vain words, nonsense, jokes, and trivialities uttered merely for entertainment and distraction. It is through these feshār that the world warms the human heart and occupies the mind. Meaningless storytelling, empty promises, fleeting amusements—all these serve as the 'idle talk' that distracts the hapless Turk. Rumi vividly illustrates what this 'idle talk' does to a person: 'His eye closed, his reason having leapt away, enraptured.' The human being becomes so absorbed in these farcical distractions that the eyes of their insight are closed, their reason is lost, and they become utterly spellbound by these ephemeral trinkets. In this oblivion and drunken laughter, the tailor, i.e., the world, steals pieces of the precious satin of life, and the human remains unaware of this great theft. This is not a lament from Rumi, but an awakening warning. He tells us that 'you yourself are the most laughable fable' if you allow your life to be plundered by such trifles.

Key takeaways

• The world, like a deceptive tailor, steals the precious opportunities of our lives with idle talk and empty amusements.
• The 'idle talk' (feshār) or meaningless jokes serve as a tool to distract humans from truth and their true selves.
• The heedless individual loses their reason and insight, falling into oblivion when faced with the world's alluring deceptions.
• This narrative is a warning to avoid intoxicating laughter and to utilize the present moment for awakening.