1Cademy - دفتر سوم - بخش ۱۶۴ - حکایت آن زنی کی فرزندش نمی‌زیست بنالید جواب آمد کی آن عوض ریاضت تست و به جای جهاد مجاهدانست ترا / Book Three - Section 164 - The Tale of That Woman Whose Children Did Not Survive and She Lamented; the Answer Came That It Is the Substitute for Your Ascetic Discipline and Takes the Place of the Holy Warriors Jihad for You

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مثنوی معنوی: دفتر سوم / Masnavi: Book Three

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دفتر سوم - بخش ۱۶۴ - حکایت آن زنی کی فرزندش نمی‌زیست بنالید جواب آمد کی آن عوض ریاضت تست و به جای جهاد مجاهدانست ترا / Book Three - Section 164 - The Tale of That Woman Whose Children Did Not Survive and She Lamented; the Answer Came That It Is the Substitute for Your Ascetic Discipline and Takes the Place of the Holy Warriors' Jihad for You

Original content

آن زنی هر سال زاییدی پسر
بیش از شش مه نبودی عمرور

یاسه مه یا چار مه گشتی تباه
ناله کرد آن زن که افغان ای اله

نه مهم بارست و سه ماهم فرح
نعمتم زوتر رو از قوس قزح

پیش مردان خدا کردی نفیر
زین شکایت آن زن از درد نذیر

بیست فرزند این چنین در گور رفت
آتشی در جانشان افتاد تفت

تا شبی بنمود او را جنتی
باقیی سبزی خوشی بی ضنتی

باغ گفتم نعمت بی کیف را
کاصل نعمتهاست و مجمع باغها

ورنه لا عین رات چه جای باغ
گفت نور غیب را یزدان چراغ

مثل نبود آن مثال آن بود
تا برد بوی آنک او حیران بود

حاصل آن زن دید آن را مست شد
زان تجلی آن ضعیف از دست شد

دید در قصری نبشته نام خویش
آن خود دانستش آن محبوب کیش

بعد از آن گفتند کین نعمت وراست
کو بجان بازی به جز صادق نخاست

خدمت بسیار می بایست کرد
مر ترا تا بر خوری زین چاشت خورد

چون تو کاهل بودی اندر التجا
آن مصیبتها عوض دادت خدا

گفت یا رب تا به صد سال و فزون
این چنینم ده بریز از من تو خون

اندر آن باغ او چو آمد پیش پیش
دید در وی جمله فرزندان خویش

گفت از من کم شد از تو گم نشد
بی دو چشم غیب کس مردم نشد

تو نکردی فصد و از بینی دوید
خون افزون تا ز تب جانت رهید

مغز هر میوه بهست از پوستش
پوست دان تن را و مغز آن دوستش

مغز نغزی دارد آخر آدمی
یکدمی آن را طلب گر زان دمی

English translation

A certain woman gave birth to a son each year, Yet no more than six months would his life endure — Or three months, or four months, then he would perish. The woman cried out: "Alas, O God!

Nine months is my burden, three months my joy; My blessing fades faster than a rainbow."

Before the men of God she raised her wailing, This woman's complaint from dire and bitter pain.

Twenty children went to the grave in this fashion; A swift fire blazed into the souls of those [holy men].

Until one night He showed her a Paradise — Enduring, verdant, pleasant, without constriction.

I say "garden" for a blessing beyond quality, For it is the source of all blessings and the gathering-place of all gardens.

Otherwise, "no eye has seen" — what place for a garden? Yazdan named the light of the Unseen a lamp.

It was not a mere metaphor — that was the very likeness itself, So that the bewildered one might catch its fragrance.

In sum: the woman saw it and became intoxicated; That frail one lost herself in that tajallī.

She saw her own name inscribed upon a palace — That beloved-devoted one recognized it as her own.

After that, they said: "This blessing belongs to her Who stakes her soul — none but the sincere rises to it.

Much service was required of you That you might partake of this morning repast.

Since you were slack in supplication, God gave you those afflictions as a substitute."

She said: "O Lord, for a hundred years and more, Grant me this — let blood be poured from me."

As she came forward into that garden, She saw within it all her own children.

[A voice said:] "What was lessened from you was not lost to Me — Without the two eyes of the Unseen, no one becomes a true human being.

You did not perform phlebotomy, yet from your nose Blood flowed in excess, until your soul was freed from fever.

The kernel of every fruit is better than its husk — Know the body as the husk, and that Beloved as its kernel.

Man has, in the end, a precious kernel; Seek it for one breath, if you are of that breath."

Updated 2026-06-30

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