1Cademy - The Allegory of Sadr-i Jahan and the Greedy Scholar in Masnavi Book 6

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دفتر ششم - بخش ۱۰۸ - حکایت صدر جهان بخارا کی هر سایلی کی به زبان بخواستی از صدقهٔ عام بی‌دریغ او محروم شدی و آن دانشمند درویش به فراموشی و فرط حرص و تعجیل به زبان بخواست در موکب صدر جهان از وی رو بگردانید و او هر روز حیلهٔ نو ساختی و خود را گاه زن کردی زیر چادر وگاه نابینا کردی و چشم و روی خود بسته به فراستش بشناختی الی آخره / Book Six - Section 108 - The Story of the Sadr-i Jahan of Bukhara: How Any Beggar Who Asked Aloud Was Deprived of His Unstinted General Charity, and How That Dervish Scholar, Out of Forgetfulness and Excess of Greed and Haste, Asked Aloud in the Sadr-i Jahan's Cavalcade and the Sadr-i Jahan Turned His Face Away From Him, and How the Scholar Devised a New Trick Every Day, Now Disguising Himself as a Woman Under a Veil, Now Pretending to be Blind, Wrapping His Eyes and Face, But the Sadr-i Jahan Recognized Him by His Physiognomy, etc.

Concept

The Allegory of Sadr-i Jahan and the Greedy Scholar in Masnavi Book 6

In Book Six of the Masnavi, Rumi presents the story of the Sadr-i Jahan of Bukhara, a profoundly generous figure who gave unstintingly to the needy on the strict condition that they did not verbally beg. A greedy scholar, driven by haste and forgetfulness, repeatedly asked aloud and was thus deprived. Despite the scholar's various disguises—such as dressing as a woman or a blind man—the Sadr-i Jahan consistently recognized him through his physiognomy. This allegory illustrates the spiritual principle that divine grace and true generosity are bestowed upon the silent, patient seeker (symbolizing true spiritual poverty) rather than the greedy and manipulative. The Sadr-i Jahan represents the all-knowing spiritual master or the Divine, who sees past outward disguises to the inner reality of the seeker's intentions.

Updated 2026-07-04

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