Читать книгу The Mesnevi - Maulana Jalal al-Din Rumi - Страница 41

There was a great and good governor (apparently) of Qonya, of the name of Mu’īnu-’d-Dīn, whose title was the Perwāna (moth or fly-wheel, viz., of the far-distant Mogul Emperor, resident at the court of the king). He was a great friend to the dervishes, to the learned, and to Jelāl, whose loving disciple he was.

One day, a company of the dervishes and learned men united in extolling the Perwāna to the skies, in Jelāl’s presence. He assented to all they advanced in that respect, and added: “The Perwāna merits a hundredfold all your eulogiums. But there is another side to the question, which may be exemplified by the following anecdote:—

“A company of pilgrims were once proceeding towards Mekka, when the camel of one of the party fell down in the desert, totally exhausted. The camel could not be got to rise again. Its load was, therefore, transferred to another beast, the fallen brute was abandoned to its fate, and the caravan resumed its journey.

“Ere long the fallen camel was surrounded by a circle of ravenous wild beasts,—wolves, jackals, &c. But none of these ventured to attack him. The members of the caravan became aware of this singularity, and one of them went back to investigate the matter. He found that an amulet had been left suspended on the animal’s neck; and this he removed. When he had retreated to a short distance, the hungry brutes fell upon the poor camel, and soon tore him piecemeal.”

“Now,” said Jelāl, “this world is in an exactly similar category with that poor camel. The learned of the world are the company of pilgrims, and our (Jelāl’s) existence among them is the amulet suspended round the neck of the camel—the world. So long as we remain so suspended, the world will go on, the caravan will proceed. But so soon as the divine mandate shall be spoken: ‘O thou submissive spirit, come thou back to thy Lord, content and approved’ (Qur’ān lxxxix. 27-8), and we be removed from the neck of the world-camel, people will see how it shall fare with the world,—how its inhabitants shall be driven,—what shall become of its sultans, its doctors, its scribes.”

It is said that these words were spoken a short time before Jelāl’s death. When he departed this life, not much time elapsed ere the Sultan, with many of his great men of learning and nobles, followed him to the grave, while troubles of all kinds overwhelmed the land for a season, until God again vouchsafed it peace.