M6:441 — زهد و تقوی را گزیدم دین و کیش / زانک می‌دیدم اجل را پیش خویش

Translation: I chose asceticism (zuhd) and piety (taqvā) as my faith and creed, For I saw death (ajjal) ever before me. Meaning: This verse is spoken by a deceptive hunter, who claims to have adopted an ascetic and pious life due to his awareness of imminent death, in order to ensnare the bird.

This verse, let me be very clear, is not Mowlana's teaching; it is uttered by the deceptive hunter in the story of the bird and the hunter in Book Six of the Mathnawi, as a means to trick the bird. This context is absolutely crucial, for Mowlana, throughout the Mathnawi, is a sharp critic of hypocrisy and superficial asceticism. This particular couplet serves as an example of deceptive zuhd.

The hunter, by wrapping himself in leaves and flowers, presents himself as a vegetarian ascetic, detached from the world, thereby seeking to gain the bird's trust. His justification for this asceticism is the awareness of his neighbors' deaths and his subsequent abandonment of worldly business. However, this form of zuhd is not free from greed and covetousness. As I have often emphasized, Mowlana himself stands as one of the most incisive critics of khanqah-based Sufism and outward, performative asceticism. The hunter's words stand in stark contrast to the genuine spiritual poverty (faqr-i ḥaqq) that Mowlana advocates.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Poverty (faqr, in the sense of material deprivation) nearly leads to unbelief." This tradition underscores that a minimum level of livelihood is necessary for spiritual well-being, to avoid falling prey to greed, to prevent distorting the truth, and to resist the machinations of deceivers. This very point is beautifully articulated by Saʿdi in his Gulistan, in his disputation with the claimant on the virtues of wealth. Saʿdi challenges a dervish who disparages the wealthy, asking him: how can you, who pray your two units of prayer with regret and hunger, worrying about your children's next meal, possibly perform charitable deeds like vows, endowments, feasts, and zakat, as the wealthy do? This demonstrates that both Saʿdi and Mowlana believed that true asceticism is incompatible with material poverty that breeds greed and anxiety about the future.

Mowlana, in the story of the Sufi whose donkey was eaten in the khanqah, similarly critiques this kind of poverty and gluttony. He observes: "A Sufi finds nourishment late in life due to his greed / For that reason, a Sufi is a great eater." He means that these Sufis, because they rarely obtain food, are consumed by greed and gluttony. Only the Sufi who is "sated by the food of Truth" is free from reproach and longing. Yet, Mowlana himself clarifies that only one in a thousand of these Sufis is truly such, with the rest living off his grace. All these critiques demonstrate that Mowlana never advocated for an asceticism that is merely outward world-renunciation or poverty driven by avarice. He was a decisive critic of the pathologies that afflicted khanqah Sufism. Thus, the hunter's verse presents a distorted and deceptive image of asceticism—one that arises not from an awakened heart, but from greed and cunning, despite its outward garb of piety.

Key takeaways

• This verse is spoken by a deceptive hunter, illustrating false asceticism.
• Mowlana critiques superficial and hypocritical asceticism that stems from greed.
• Material poverty, if coupled with avarice, can lead to spiritual unbelief.
• Both Mowlana and Saʿdi emphasize the importance of basic livelihood for spiritual well-being.
• True asceticism originates from an awakened heart, not from pretense or deception.