In Book Four of the *Masnavi*, Jalaluddin Rumi recounts the narrative of the Sufi mystic Bayazid Bastami uttering ecstatic phrases (*shathiyat*) such as "Glory be to me" to illustrate the ultimate state of spiritual annihilation (*fana*). Rumi explains that in this state of profound divine intoxication, the mystic's individual ego is completely effaced, and the utterances are spoken by the Divine rather than the human self. This story serves to teach learners the distinction between the arrogant claims of the ego and the egoless state of a true mystic absorbed in God.

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## Original content
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با مریدان آن فقیر محتشم 
بایزید آمد که نک یزدان منم
گفت مستانه عیان آن ذوفنون 
لا اله الا انا ها فاعبدون
چون گذشت آن حال گفتندش صباح 
تو چنین گفتی و این نبود صلاح
گفت این بار ار کنم من مشغله 
کاردها بر من زنید آن دم هله
حق منزه از تن و من با تنم 
چون چنین گویم، بباید کشتنم
چون وصیت کرد آن آزادمرد 
هر مریدی کاردی آماده کرد
مست گشت او باز از آن سغراق زفت 
آن وصیت هاش از خاطر برفت
نقل آمد عقل او آواره شد 
صبح آمد شمع او بیچاره شد
عقل چون شحنه ست چون سلطان رسید 
شحنهٔ بیچاره در کنجی خزید
عقل سایهٔ حق بود حق آفتاب 
سایه را با آفتاب او چه تاب
چون پری غالب شود بر آدمی 
گم شود از مرد وصف مردمی
هر چه گوید، آن پری گفته بود 
زین سری زان آن سری گفته بود
چون پری را این دم و قانون بود 
کردگار آن پری خود چون بود؟
اوی او رفته، پری خود او شده 
ترک بی الهام، تازی گو شده
چون به خود آید، نداند یک لغت 
چون پری را هست این ذات و صفت
پس خداوند پری و آدمی 
از پری کی باشدش آخر کمی؟
شیرگیر ار خون نره شیر خورد 
تو بگویی او نکرد، آن باده کرد
ور سخن پردازد از زر کهن 
تو بگویی باده گفته ست آن سخن
باده ای را می بود این شر و شور 
نور حق را نیست آن فرهنگ و زور
که ترا از تو به کل خالی کند 
تو شوی پست او سخن عالی کند
گرچه قرآن از لب پیغمبرست 
هر که گوید حق نگفت، او کافرست
چون همای بی خودی پرواز کرد 
آن سخن را بایزید آغاز کرد
عقل را سیل تحیر در ربود 
زان قوی تر گفت که اول گفته بود
نیست اندر جبه ام الا خدا 
چند جویی بر زمین و بر سما
آن مریدان جمله دیوانه شدند 
کاردها در جسم پاکش می زدند
هر یکی چون ملحدان گرده کوه 
کارد می زد پیر خود را بی ستوه
هر که اندر شیخ تیغی می خلید 
بازگونه از تن خود می درید
یک اثر نه بر تن آن ذوفنون 
وان مریدان خسته و غرقاب خون
هر که او سویی گلویش زخم برد 
حلق خود ببریده دید و زار مرد
وآنک او را زخم اندر سینه زد 
سینه اش بشکافت و شد مردهٔ ابد
وآنک آگه بود از آن صاحب قران 
دل ندادش که زند زخم گران
نیم دانش دست او را بسته کرد 
جان ببرد الا که خود را خسته کرد
روز گشت و آن مریدان کاسته 
نوحه ها از خانه شان برخاسته
پیش او آمد هزاران مرد و زن 
کای دو عالم درج در یک پیرهن
این تن تو گر تن مردم بدی 
چون تن مردم ز خنجر گم شدی
با خودی با بی خودی دوچار زد 
با خود اندر دیدهٔ خود خار زد
ای زده بر بی خودان تو ذوالفقار 
بر تن خود می زنی آن هوش دار
زانک بی خود فانی است و آمنست 
تا ابد در آمنی او ساکنست
نقش او فانی و او شد آینه 
غیر نقش روی غیر آن جای نه
گر کنی تف سوی روی خود کنی 
ور زنی بر آینه، بر خود زنی
ور ببینی روی زشت آن هم توی 
ور ببینی عیسی و مریم توی
او نه اینست و نه آن او ساده است 
نقش تو در پیش تو بنهاده است
چون رسید اینجا سخن لب در ببست 
چون رسید اینجا قلم درهم شکست
لب ببند ار چه فصاحت دست داد 
دم مزن والله اعلم بالرشاد
برکنار بامی ای مست مدام 
پست بنشین یا فرود آ والسلام
هر زمانی که شدی تو کامران 
آن دم خوش را کنار بام دان
بر زمان خوش هراسان باش تو 
هم چو گنجش خفیه کن نه فاش تو
تا نیاید بر ولا ناگه بلا 
ترس ترسان رو در آن مکمن هلا
ترس جان در وقت شادی از زوال 
زان کنار بام غیبست ارتحال
گر نمی بینی کنار بام راز 
روح می بیند که هستش اهتزاز
هر نکالی ناگهان کان آمدست 
بر کنار کنگرهٔ شادی بدست
جز کنار بام خود نبود سقوط 
اعتبار از قوم نوح و قوم لوط

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## English translation
With his disciples, that majestic poor man
Bayazid, came saying, 'Behold, I am God.'
That master of many arts openly said in a state of intoxication,
'There is no god but Me, so worship Me.'
When that state passed, they said to him in the morning,
'You said such a thing, and this was not right.'
He said, 'If I make a commotion this time,
Plunge your knives into me at that very moment, come now!
God is transcendent beyond the body, and I am with a body;
When I speak like this, I must be killed.'
When that free man made this will,
Every disciple prepared a knife.
He became drunk again from that heavy goblet;
Those behests went out of his mind.
The 'dessert' came, and his intellect became a wanderer;
Morning came, and his candle became helpless.
Intellect is like a police chief; when the Sultan arrives,
The helpless police chief creeps into a corner.
Intellect is God's shadow, God is the sun;
What endurance does the shadow have with His sun?
When a fairy (jinn) overcomes a human,
The attribute of humanity disappears from the man.
Whatever he says, that fairy has spoken it;
From this side, it has spoken from that side.
Since the fairy has this breath and rule,
How must the Creator of that fairy be Himself?
His 'he-ness' has gone, the fairy has become him;
The Turk without inspiration has become an Arabic speaker.
When he comes to himself, he does not know a single word;
Since the fairy has this essence and attribute,
Then the Lord of fairy and man,
How can He ultimately be less than a fairy?
If a lion-catcher drinks the blood of a male lion,
You say he didn't do it, that wine did it.
And if he fashions words of old gold,
You say wine has spoken those words.
To a wine belongs this evil and tumult;
Does the light of God lack that culture and power,
That it should completely empty you of yourself?
You become low, and He makes the speech exalted.
Although the Quran is from the lips of the Prophet,
Whoever says God did not speak it is an infidel.
When the huma (auspicious bird) of selflessness took flight,
Bayazid began that speech.
The torrent of bewilderment swept away his intellect;
He spoke more strongly than he had spoken at first:
'There is nothing in my cloak except God;
How long will you search on earth and in heaven?'
Those disciples all became mad;
They plunged their knives into his pure body.
Each one, like the heretics of Girdakuh,
Stabbed his spiritual guide without hesitation.
Whoever thrust a sword into the Sheikh,
Tore his own body in reverse.
There was not one mark on the body of that master of arts,
While those disciples were wounded and drowned in blood.
Whoever struck a blow at his throat from any direction,
Saw his own throat cut and died miserably.
And he who struck a blow at his chest,
His own chest was split, and he became dead for eternity.
And he who was aware of that lord of conjunction,
His heart did not allow him to strike a heavy blow.
Half-knowledge bound his hand;
He saved his life, except that he wounded himself.
Day broke, and those disciples were diminished;
Lamentations arose from their houses.
Thousands of men and women came to him,
Saying, 'O you in whose one shirt two worlds are contained!
If this body of yours were the body of a man,
It would have perished like a man's body from the dagger.'
He who struck the selfless one while possessed of self,
Struck a thorn into his own eye.
O you who have struck the Zulfiqar (sword) at the selfless,
You are striking your own body; beware!
Because the selfless one is annihilated and safe;
He dwells in safety for eternity.
His form has been annihilated, and he has become a mirror;
There is no room in it for anything other than the image of another's face.
If you spit, you spit at your own face;
And if you strike the mirror, you strike yourself.
And if you see an ugly face, that too is you;
And if you see Jesus and Mary, it is you.
He is neither this nor that; he is simple (unalloyed);
He has placed your image before you.
When the words reached here, the lips closed;
When the pen reached here, it broke in pieces.
Close your lips, even if eloquence is at hand;
Do not breathe a word; and God knows best the right path.
You are on the edge of a roof, O constantly drunk!
Sit low or come down, and peace be upon you!
Whenever you become successful and happy,
Consider that happy moment as the edge of the roof.
Be fearful at the happy time;
Hide it like a treasure, do not make it public!
So that a sudden affliction does not come upon the joy;
Go into that ambush with fear and trembling, beware!
The fear for one's life in the time of joy is from decline;
For departure is from the edge of the unseen roof.
If you do not see the edge of the secret roof,
The spirit sees it, for it has a trembling (vibration).
Every exemplary punishment that has come suddenly,
Has been on the edge of the battlement of joy.
There is no fall except from the edge of one's own roof;
Take warning from the people of Noah and the people of Lot.

دفتر چهارم - بخش ۷۹ - قصهٔ «سُبْحانی، ما اَعْظَمَ شَأْنی» گفتن ابویزید قدّس الله سرّه و اعتراض مریدان و جواب این مر ایشان را نه به طریق گفت زبان بلک از راه عیان / Book Four - Section 79 - The Story of Abu Yazid - may God sanctify his secret - Saying 'Glory be to me, how great is my station', and the Disciples' Objection, and His Answer to Them - Not by Way of Spoken Word but by Way of Manifest Vision

Abu Yazid (Bayazid) Bastami was a prominent 9th-century Persian Sufi celebrated for his intense asceticism and ecstatic utterances (shathiyat). His primary biographical account in Attar's *Tazkirat al-Awliya* establishes him as the 'Sultan of the Mystics' (Sultan al-Arifin). In later Persian mystical literature, including Rumi's *Masnavi* and Attar's *The Conference of the Birds*, Bayazid frequently serves as a central archetype for spiritual annihilation (fana) and the profound states of a seeker fully absorbed in the Divine.

Bayazid Bastami (Sufi Mystic)

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Bayazid's Ecstatic Utterance (Shath) and Fana in the Masnavi

In Book 2 of Jalaluddin Rumi's *Masnavi*, the story of the Sufi mystic Bayazid Bastami's journey to Mecca illustrates the supremacy of the purified human heart as the ultimate dwelling place of the Divine. On his way to perform the Hajj pilgrimage, Bayazid encounters a physically blind but spiritually enlightened old man who asks about his travel provisions. Upon learning Bayazid has two hundred silver dirhams, the sage instructs him to circumambulate him seven times and hand over the money, declaring this act superior to the physical pilgrimage. The old man explains that while the physical Ka'ba in Mecca is God's outward house, the heart of the saint is His innermost secret. He asserts that God has never truly entered the physical stone structure, whereas the divine presence resides exclusively in the living heart. Rumi uses this narrative to teach that the true locus of divine revelation is the spiritually realized human being, and serving such a guide is equivalent to circumambulating the Ka'ba of Truth.

The Tale of Bayazid and the Spiritual Ka'ba in the Masnavi

In Farid al-Din Attar's *The Conference of the Birds*, the anecdote of Bayazid's response to the angels of death, Nakir and Munkar, illustrates a fundamental Sufi understanding of true servitude. Bayazid asserts that his spiritual status depends entirely on God's declaration: if God accepts him as a servant, he is one; if not, his own claims of faith are merely personal desires and vanity. This narrative highlights the mystical concept that true spiritual rank and connection with the Divine cannot be achieved through human assertion, but rely entirely on divine acceptance, grace, and independence.

The Concept of Divine Acceptance and Servitude in Bayazid's Answer

In Jalaluddin Rumi's *Masnavi*, the narrative of the Sufi master Bayazid Bastami foretelling the birth and characteristics of Abu al-Hasan al-Kharaqani decades before his actual birth illustrates the metaphysical concept of spiritual perception and transmission across temporal and spatial boundaries.

Rumi employs the metaphor of **spiritual scent** (*bu-ye khosh*) to represent the intuitive recognition of divine light and sanctity. This theme is structurally connected to the Hadith of *Nafas al-Rahman* (the Breath of the Merciful), wherein the Prophet Muhammad sensed the spiritual devotion of Uwais al-Qarani from Yemen. In the *Masnavi*, the spiritual essence of the future master is carried on the wind, intoxicating Bayazid with divine knowledge.

Key aspects of this concept include:

1. **Trans-temporal Connection (Owaysi Path):** Spiritual inheritance and initiation can bypass physical proximity and lifetime overlap, as Kharaqani is spiritually guided by the essence of Bayazid.
2...

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