In Jalaluddin Rumi's *Masnavi*, the story of Majnun and his she-camel serves as a profound allegory for the internal struggle between the intellect (*'aql*) and the carnal soul (*nafs*). Majnun, representing the intellect, yearns to move forward toward his beloved Layla. However, his she-camel, representing the *nafs*, yearns to return backward to her foal. Whenever Majnun becomes absorbed in his thoughts of love and loses physical control, the camel turns back toward her worldly attachment. Rumi uses this metaphor to illustrate how the intellect pulls the individual toward spiritual elevation and divine love, while the base nature continuously drags them back toward earthly desires and attachments.

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## Original content
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هم‌چو مجنون‌اند و چون ناقه‌ش یقین 
می‌کشد آن پیش و این واپس به کین
میل مجنون پیش آن لیلی روان 
میل ناقه پس پی کره دوان
یک دم ار مجنون ز خود غافل بدی 
ناقه گردیدی و واپس آمدی
عشق و سودا چونک پر بودش بدن 
می‌نبودش چاره از بی‌خود شدن
آنک او باشد مراقب عقل بود 
عقل را سودای لیلی در ربود
لیک ناقه بس مراقب بود و چست 
چون بدیدی او مهار خویش سست
فهم کردی زو که غافل گشت و دنگ 
رو سپس کردی به کره بی‌درنگ
چون به خود باز آمدی دیدی ز جا 
کو سپس رفتست بس فرسنگها
در سه روزه ره بدین احوالها 
ماند مجنون در تردد سالها
گفت ای ناقه چو هر دو عاشقیم 
ما دو ضد پس همره نالایقیم
نیستت بر وفق من مهر و مهار 
کرد باید از تو صحبت اختیار
این دو همره یکدگر را راه‌زن 
گمره آن جان کو فرو ناید ز تن
جان ز هجر عرش اندر فاقه‌ای 
تن ز عشق خاربن چون ناقه‌ای
جان گشاید سوی بالا بالها 
در زده تن در زمین چنگالها
تا تو با من باشی ای مردهٔ وطن 
پس ز لیلی دور ماند جان من
روزگارم رفت زین گون حالها 
هم‌چو تیه و قوم موسی سالها
خطوتینی بود این ره تا وصال 
مانده‌ام در ره ز شستت شصت سال
راه نزدیک و بماندم سخت دیر 
سیر گشتم زین سواری سیرسیر
سرنگون خود را از اشتر در فکند 
گفت سوزیدم ز غم تا چندچند
تنگ شد بر وی بیابان فراخ 
خویشتن افکند اندر سنگلاخ
آنچنان افکند خود را سخت زیر 
که مخلخل گشت جسم آن دلیر
چون چنان افکند خود را سوی پست 
از قضا آن لحظه پایش هم شکست
پای را بر بست و گفتا گو شوم 
در خم چوگانش غلطان می‌روم
زین کند نفرین حکیم خوش‌دهن 
بر سواری کو فرو ناید ز تن
عشق مولی کی کم از لیلی بود 
گوی گشتن بهر او اولی بود
گوی شو می‌گرد بر پهلوی صدق 
غلط غلطان در خم چوگان عشق
کین سفر زین پس بود جذب خدا 
وان سفر بر ناقه باشد سیر ما
این چنین سیریست مستثنی ز جنس 
کان فزود از اجتهاد جن و انس
این چنین جذبیست نی هر جذب عام 
که نهادش فضل احمد والسلام

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## English translation
They are like Majnun and like his she-camel, without doubt—
That one pulls forward, this one backward, in enmity.
Majnun's yearning flows forward toward that Layla;
The she-camel's yearning runs back, chasing after her foal.
If for one moment Majnun were heedless of himself,
The she-camel would turn and come back the other way.
Since love and passion filled his body full,
He had no escape from becoming self-oblivious.
He who keeps watch is the intellect;
But the passion of Layla carried the intellect away.
Yet the she-camel was very watchful and nimble;
Whenever she perceived her own halter growing slack,
She understood from it that he had grown heedless and dazed,
And turned her face back toward the foal without delay.
When he came back to himself, he saw from his place
That she had gone back many farsakhs behind.
On a three-day road, in conditions such as these,
Majnun lingered in vacillation for years.
He said: "O she-camel, since we are both lovers,
We are two opposites—unfit to journey together.
You have neither love nor halter in accord with me;
I must choose separation from your company."
These two travel-companions are each other's highway robbers;
Lost astray is the soul that does not descend from the body.
The soul, in separation from the Throne, is in destitution;
The body, in love of the thornbush, is like a she-camel.
The soul spreads wings upward toward the heights;
The body has driven its claws into the earth.
As long as you are with me, O one dead to the homeland,
My soul remains far from Layla.
My life has passed away in conditions like these—
Like the Tīh and the people of Moses, year after year.
This road to union was but two paces;
I have lingered on the road sixty years because of you.
The road is near, yet I have tarried far too long;
I am utterly sated with this riding—sated and sated again.
Headlong he cast himself from the camel,
Saying: "I have burned with grief—how long, how long more?"
The wide desert grew narrow upon him;
He cast himself onto the rocky ground.
He threw himself down so violently
That the body of that brave one was shaken to pieces.
When he cast himself thus toward the low ground,
By fate, at that very moment, his foot also broke.
He bound his foot and said: "Let me be a ball—
Rolling, I go in the curve of His polo-stick."
From this, the eloquent-tongued sage pronounces a curse
Upon the rider who does not descend from the body.
When is the love of the Master (Mawlā) less than Layla's?
Becoming a ball for His sake is more fitting.
Become a ball; roll on the side of sincerity (ṣidq),
Tumbling and rolling in the curve of love's polo-stick.
For this journey henceforth is God's divine attraction (jazb),
And that other journey—upon the she-camel—is our own traveling.
Such a journey is exempt from every ordinary kind,
For it surpasses all the striving of jinn and humankind.
Such an attraction (jazb) is not every common attraction—
Aḥmad's grace has established it, and peace be upon him.

دفتر چهارم - بخش ۵۸ - چالیش عقل با نفس هم چون تنازع مجنون با ناقه میل مجنون سوی حره میل ناقه واپس سوی کره چنانک گفت مجنون هوا ناقتی خلفی و قدامی الهوی و انی و ایاها لمختلفان / Book Four - Section 58 - The struggle of the intellect with the nafs is like the conflict of Majnun with his she-camel: Majnun's yearning is toward the freeborn woman, the she-camel's yearning is backward toward her foal; as Majnun said, 'The desire of my she-camel is behind me, and my desire is before me, and verily she and I are at variance.'

In Jalaluddin Rumi's *Masnavi*, the struggle against the internal ego (*nafs*) is explicitly characterized as the "greater jihad" (*jihad al-akbar*). Following a victory over external foes (the "lesser jihad"), Rumi warns that a far more dangerous adversary remains within. He metaphorically describes the *nafs* as a "dragon" and a manifestation of "hell"—an insatiable force that swallows entire worlds and constantly demands more, undiminished even by oceans. Rumi emphasizes that conquering this inward enemy cannot be achieved through mere intellect or human cunning. Instead, it requires divine intervention and profound spiritual discipline, as only God can truly "draw its bow." Thus, the ultimate spiritual battle for a seeker is not fought on physical battlefields, but in the arduous, continuous effort to overcome one's own carnal soul.

The Concept of the Greater Jihad and the Nafs in the Masnavi

In Jalaluddin Rumi's *Masnavi*, expanding upon the distinction between deceptive outward words and true inner wisdom, Rumi explores the dynamic between the rational intellect and the transcendent spirit. He explains that while the intellect initially serves as a necessary guide and teacher for the spiritual seeker, it ultimately possesses a definitive boundary. To illustrate this limitation, Rumi employs the metaphor of the archangel Gabriel during the Prophet Muhammad's night journey (Mi'raj). Just as Gabriel must halt his ascent, warning that taking even one step further into the divine presence would cause him to burn, the human intellect cannot fully grasp or enter ultimate spiritual reality. At this sublime threshold, the intellect must surrender its leading role and become the pupil, allowing the awakened spirit to continue the journey toward union with God alone.

The Limit of Intellect and the Metaphor of Gabriel in the Masnavi

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