M3:692 — خویش را منصور حلاجی کنی / آتشی در پنبهٔ یاران زنی

This couplet is part of a longer passage where Rumi is admonishing a hypocrite who pretends to be a great spiritual master while secretly harboring vices like greed and deceit. The speaker is sarcastically telling this pretender that they claim to be like Mansur al-Hallaj, the famous Sufi martyr known for his ecstatic utterance 'Ana al-Haqq' (I am the Truth/God). Mansur's claim, though controversial, was born of profound spiritual experience. The pretender, however, is not genuinely experiencing divine union; instead, by making such a grand, unearned claim, they are 'setting fire to the cotton of their friends.'

'Setting fire to the cotton' is a vivid image. Cotton is highly flammable and represents the vulnerable, perhaps less spiritually mature, 'friends' or followers who might be misled or even harmed by the pretender's false claims and destructive behavior. True spiritual masters uplift and guide, but this false one, through their arrogance and hypocrisy, brings ruin to those who trust them. The beyt highlights the stark contrast between true spiritual realization and its deceptive imitation, emphasizing the danger of spiritual arrogance and its negative impact on one's community.