In Book Six, Section 22 of the Masnavi, Rumi provides a poetic commentary on the famous Sufi tradition attributed to the Prophet, 'Die before you die' (muta qabla an tamutu). He explains that true spiritual life and elevation cannot be attained without first undergoing a voluntary, spiritual death. This 'death' refers to the annihilation of the ego and worldly desires (fana). Rumi uses analogies, such as needing to climb every rung of a ladder or drop a rope fully into a well, to illustrate that partial surrender is insufficient; complete egoic death is the absolute prerequisite for eternal life and divine union.

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## Original content
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جان بسی کندی و اندر پرده ای 
زانک مردن اصل بد ناورده ای
تا نمیری نیست جان کندن تمام 
بی کمال نردبان نایی به بام
چون ز صد پایه دو پایه کم بود 
بام را کوشنده نامحرم بود
چون رسن یک گز ز صد گز کم بود 
آب اندر دلو از چه کی رود
غرق این کشتی نیابی ای امیر 
تا بننهی اندرو من الاخیر
من آخر اصل دان کو طارقست 
کشتی وسواس و غی را غارقست
آفتاب گنبد ازرق شود 
کشتی هش چونک مستغرق شود
چون نمردی گشت جان کندن دراز 
مات شو در صبح ای شمع طراز
تا نگشتند اختران ما نهان 
دانک پنهانست خورشید جهان
گرز بر خود زن منی در هم شکن 
زانک پنبهٔ گوش آمد چشم تن
گرز بر خود می زنی خود ای دنی 
عکس تست اندر فعالم این منی
عکس خود در صورت من دیده ای 
در قتال خویش بر جوشیده ای
هم چو آن شیری که در چه شد فرو 
عکس خود را خصم خود پنداشت او
نفی ضد هست باشد بی شکی 
تا ز ضد ضد را بدانی اندکی
این زمان جز نفی ضد اعلام نیست 
اندرین نشات دمی بی دام نیست
بی حجابت باید آن ای ذو لباب 
مرگ را بگزین و بر دران حجاب
نه چنان مرگی که در گوری روی 
مرگ تبدیلی که در نوری روی
مرد بالغ گشت آن بچگی بمرد 
رومیی شد صبغت زنگی سترد
خاک زر شد هیات خاکی نماند 
غم فرج شد خار غمناکی نماند
مصطفی زین گفت کای اسرارجو 
مرده را خواهی که بینی زنده تو
می رود چون زندگان بر خاکدان 
مرده و جانش شده بر آسمان
جانش را این دم به بالا مسکنیست 
گر بمیرد روح او را نقل نیست
زانک پیش از مرگ او کردست نقل 
این بمردن فهم آید نه به عقل
نقل باشد نه چو نقل جان عام 
هم چو نقلی از مقامی تا مقام
هرکه خواهد که ببیند بر زمین 
مرده ای را می رود ظاهر چنین
مر ابوبکر تقی را گو ببین 
شد ز صدیقی امیرالمحشرین
اندرین نشات نگر صدیق را 
تا به حشر افزون کنی تصدیق را
پس محمد صد قیامت بود نقد 
زانک حل شد در فنای حل و عقد
زادهٔ ثانیست احمد در جهان 
صد قیامت بود او اندر عیان
زو قیامت را همی پرسیده اند 
ای قیامت تا قیامت راه چند
با زبان حال می گفتی بسی 
که ز محشر حشر را پرسد کسی
بهر این گفت آن رسول خوش پیام 
رمز موتوا قبل موت یا کرام
همچنانکه مرده ام من قبل موت 
زان طرف آورده ام این صیت و صوت
پس قیامت شو قیامت را ببین 
دیدن هر چیز را شرطست این
تا نگردی او ندانی اش تمام 
خواه آن انوار باشد یا ظلام
عقل گردی عقل را دانی کمال 
عشق گردی عشق را دانی ذبال
گفتمی برهان این دعوی مبین 
گر بدی ادراک اندر خورد این
هست انجیر این طرف بسیار و خوار 
گر رسد مرغی قنق انجیرخوار
در همه عالم اگر مرد و زنند 
دم به دم در نزع و اندر مردنند
آن سخنشان را وصیتها شمر 
که پدر گوید در آن دم با پسر
تا بروید عبرت و رحمت بدین 
تا ببرد بیخ بغض و رشک و کین
تو بدان نیت نگر در اقربا 
تا ز نزع او نسوزد دل ترا
کل آت آت آن را نقد دان 
دوست را در نزع و اندر فقد دان
ور غرضها زین نظر گردد حجیب 
این غرضها را برون افکن ز جیب
ور نیاری خشک بر عجزی مایست 
دانکه با عاجز گزیده معجزیست
عجز زنجیریست زنجیرت نهاد 
چشم در زنجیرنه باید گشاد
پس تضرع کن که ای هادی زیست 
باز بودم بسته گشتم این ز چیست
سخت تر افشرده ام در شر قدم 
که لفی خسرم ز قهرت دم به دم
از نصیحتهای تو کر بوده ام 
بت شکن دعوی و بت گر بوده ام
یاد صنعت فرض تر یا یاد مرگ 
مرگ مانند خزان تو اصل برگ
سالها این مرگ طبلک می زند 
گوش تو بیگاه جنبش می کند
گوید اندر نزع از جان آه مرگ 
این زمان کردت ز خود آگاه مرگ
این گلوی مرگ از نعره گرفت 
طبل او بشکافت از ضرب شگفت
در دقایق خویش را در بافتی 
رمز مردن این زمان در یافتی

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## English translation
You have agonized much, yet remain behind the veil,
Because dying was the root, and you have not brought it.
Until you die, the agony is not complete;
Without the ladder being whole, you will not reach the roof.
When two rungs are missing from a hundred,
The striver remains forbidden from the roof.
When the rope is one yard short of a hundred,
How will the water rise from the well in the bucket?
You will not find the sinking of this ship, O emir,
Until you place in it a 'maund' of the ultimate weight.
Know the ultimate maund as the fundamental knocker,
Which is the sinker of the ship of obsession and error.
It becomes the sun of the azure dome,
When the ship of consciousness becomes submerged.
Since you did not die, your agony became prolonged;
Be checkmated in the dawn, O candle of Taraz.
Until our stars have become hidden,
Know that the sun of the world is concealed.
Strike the mace upon yourself, shatter 'I-ness',
For the eye of the body has become the cotton of the ear.
If you strike the mace upon yourself, O base one,
This 'I-ness' in my action is your own reflection.
You have seen your own reflection in my face,
You have boiled up in battle against yourself.
Like that lion who went down into the well,
He thought his own reflection was his enemy.
The negation of the opposite is existence, without a doubt,
So that you may know a little of an opposite through its opposite.
At this time, there is nothing but the declaration of the negation of opposites,
In this emergence (world), there is not a moment without a trap.
If you want it without a veil, O possessor of intellect,
Choose death and tear up the veil.
Not such a death that you go into a grave,
A death of transformation, that you go into a light.
The man became an adult, that childhood died;
He became a Roman (fair), the color of the Zang (dark) was erased.
The earth became gold, its earthy appearance did not remain;
Sorrow became joy, no thorn of sorrow remained.
Mustafa (Muhammad) said of this: O seeker of secrets,
If you wish to see a dead man living,
Walking upon the dust-heap like the living,
Dead, while his spirit has gone to heaven;
His spirit at this moment has a dwelling on high,
If he dies, his soul does not undergo transfer.
Because before his death, he has made the transfer;
This is understood through dying, not through intellect.
A transfer it is, but not like the transfer of the common soul,
Rather like a transfer from one station to another.
Whoever wishes to see on the earth
A dead man walking openly like this,
Tell him to look at Abu Bakr the pious,
Who through truthfulness became the prince of those resurrected.
In this emergence, look at the Truthful One (Abu Bakr),
So that you may increase your belief for the resurrection.
Thus, Muhammad was a hundred resurrections in cash (present),
Because he was dissolved in the annihilation of binding and loosening.
Ahmad is a second birth in the world;
He was a hundred resurrections in plain sight.
Hence they kept asking him about the resurrection:
'O Resurrection, how long is the way to the resurrection?'
With the tongue of his state he often said,
'Who asks the gathering about the resurrection?'
For this reason, that Messenger of good tidings said,
The secret of 'Die before death,' O noble ones.
'Just as I have died before death,
I have brought this fame and voice from that side.'
Therefore, become the resurrection, see the resurrection;
This is the condition for seeing everything.
Until you become it, you will not know it entirely,
Whether it be those lights or shadows.
Become intellect, you will know the perfection of intellect;
Become love, you will know the wick of love.
I would have spoken the clear proof of this claim,
If there were an understanding suited to this.
There are figs in this region, abundant and cheap,
If a fig-eating bird arrived as a guest.
In the whole world, whether they be men or women,
Moment by moment they are in the throes of death and dying.
Consider their words as the testaments
That a father speaks at that moment to his son.
So that admonition and mercy may grow from this,
So that it may cut the root of hatred, envy, and malice.
With that intention, look at your relatives,
So that your heart may not burn from their death agony.
'Every coming thing is coming,' consider it as cash (present);
Consider the friend in death agony and in loss.
And if selfish motives become a veil from this sight,
Throw these motives out of your pocket.
And if you cannot bring them dry (easily), do not stand upon helplessness;
Know that the helpless one has chosen the miracle-worker.
Helplessness is a chain, he put the chain on you;
He placed an eye in the chain, it must be opened.
Then entreat, saying, 'O Guide of life,
I was a falcon, I became bound, what is this from?
I have pressed my foot harder in evil,
So that 'Indeed I am in loss' moment by moment from Your wrath.
I have been deaf to Your advice,
I have been an idol-breaker in claim, but an idol-maker (in reality).'
Is the remembrance of a craft more obligatory, or the remembrance of death?
Death is like autumn, you are the essence of the leaf.
For years this death has been beating its little drum,
Your ear makes a movement unseasonably (too late).
It says in the death agony, an 'Ah!' of death from the soul,
At this time, death made you aware of yourself.
This throat of death became hoarse from shouting,
Its drum burst from the astonishing beating.
You wove yourself into subtleties;
You finally grasped the secret of dying at this time!

دفتر ششم - بخش ۲۲ - تفسیر قوله علیه‌السلام موتوا قبل ان تموتوا بمیر ای دوست پیش از مرگ اگر می زندگی خواهی کی ادریس از چنین مردن بهشتی گشت پیش از ما / Book Six - Section 22 - Commentary on the saying of the Prophet, peace be upon him, 'Die before you die'; die, O friend, before death if you desire life, for Idris through such a death became a dweller of Paradise before us

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