The Mesnavi and The Acts of the Adepts: The Book of the M...

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This is an excerpt from the *Masnavi* (or Mesnavi), the celebrated 13th-century Persian Sufi narrative poem by Jalal ad-Din Rumi, here in James Redhouse's 1881 verse translation. The passage recounts the story of Ali ibn Abi Talib, the Prophet Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law, who spares an enemy mid-battle after the man spits in his face — an act of contempt that would have made killing him an act of personal revenge rather than holy purpose. The central argument is Ali's lengthy explanation: he dropped his sword because he is merely God's instrument, and the moment personal anger entered the equation, the blow would have belonged to his ego rather than to divine will. Rumi uses this episode to develop a sustained mystical claim — that the truly purified soul has no autonomous desires, fears, or pride, but acts purely as a channel for God, like a bow in an archer's hand. The poem makes a notably sharp distinction between slavery to passion (which it treats as the deepest form of bondage, worse than literal captivity) and spiritual freedom, arguing that only someone free from lust and anger is a credible witness to truth. For readers interested in Sufi ethics, Islamic mysticism, or the literary tradition of the *masnavi* form, the passage is a dense and vivid illustration of Rumi's core themes: self-annihilation, divine agency, and the transformation of the enemy into a beloved through grace.

The Mesnavi and The Acts of the Adepts: The Book of the M...

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