The Mesnevi: Book the First

This is the book of the Rhymed Couplets (Mathnawī, Mesnevī). It contains the roots of the roots of the roots of the (one true) Religion (of Islām); and treats of the discovery of the mysteries of reunion and sure knowledge. It is the Grand Jurisprudence of God, the most glorious Law of the Deity, the most manifest Evidence of the Divine Being. The refulgence thereof “is like that of a lantern in which is a lamp” that scatters beams more bright than the morn. It is the paradise of the heart, with springs and foliage. One of those springs is “the fount named Salsabīl” by the brethren of this religious order (of mystical devotees known as the Mevlevī or Dancing Dervishes); but, by saints and the miraculously endowed, it is called “the Good Station” and “the Best Resting-place.” The just shall eat and drink therein, and the righteous shall rejoice and be glad thereof. Like the Egyptian Nile, it is a beverage for the patient, but a delusion to the people of Pharaoh and to blasphemers; even as God, whose name be glorified, hath said: “He misleads therewith many, and He guides therewith many; but He misleads not therewith (any), save the wicked.” It is a comfort to men’s breasts, an expeller of cares. It is an exposition of the Qur’ān, an amplification of spiritual aliments, and a dulcifier of the disposition; written “by the hands of honorable scribes,” who inscribe thereon the prohibition: “Let none touch it save the purified.” It is (a revelation) “sent down (from on high) by the Lord of (all) the worlds, which vanity approacheth not from before, nor from behind,” which God watches over and observes, He being “the best as a Preserver,” and “the Most Compassionate of the merciful ones,” unto whom pertain (many) titles, His utmost title being God, whose name be exalted.