In Book Six of the Masnavi, the story of Sultan Mahmud and the Hindu slave serves as an allegory for the human soul's relationship with God, particularly regarding the fear of death and divine judgment. The young slave, seated on a throne beside the mighty Sultan Mahmud, weeps not from sorrow but from a profound realization. He recalls how his mother used to terrify him with the Sultan's name to discipline him, portraying Mahmud as a figure of wrath. Finding himself now showered with the Sultan's immense grace and kindness, the slave cries at the contrast between his ignorant fear and his current blissful reality. Rumi uses this narrative to illustrate how humans often fear death and divine trials due to ignorance. When the soul finally encounters the Divine, it realizes that what it feared as wrath or destruction was actually infinite mercy and spiritual elevation.

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## Original content
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رحمة الله علیه گفته است 
ذکر شه محمود غازی سفته است
کز غزای هند پیش آن همام 
در غنیمت اوفتادش یک غلام
پس خلیفه ش کرد و بر تختش نشاند 
بر سپه بگزیدش و فرزند خواند
طول و عرض و وصف قصه تو به تو 
در کلام آن بزرگ دین بجو
حاصل آن کودک برین تخت نضار 
شسته پهلوی قباد شهریار
گریه کردی اشک می راندی بسوز 
گفت شه او را کای پیروز روز
از چه گریی دولتت شد ناگوار 
فوق املاکی قرین شهریار
تو برین تخت و وزیران و سپاه 
پیش تختت صف زده چون نجم و ماه
گفت کودک گریه ام زانست زار 
که مرا مادر در آن شهر و دیار
از توم تهدید کردی هر زمان 
بینمت در دست محمود ارسلان
پس پدر مر مادرم را در جواب 
جنگ کردی کین چه خشمست و عذاب
می نیابی هیچ نفرینی دگر 
زین چنین نفرین مهلک سهلتر
سخت بی رحمی و بس سنگین دلی 
که به صد شمشیر او را قاتلی
من ز گفت هر دو حیران گشتمی 
در دل افتادی مرا بیم و غمی
تا چه دوزخ خوست محمود ای عجب 
که مثل گشتست در ویل و کرب
من همی لرزیدمی از بیم تو 
غافل از اکرام و از تعظیم تو
مادرم کو تا ببیند این زمان 
مر مرا بر تخت ای شاه جهان
فقر آن محمود تست ای بی سعت 
طبع ازو دایم همی ترساندت
گر بدانی رحم این محمود راد 
خوش بگویی عاقبت محمود باد
فقر آن محمود تست ای بیم دل 
کم شنو زین مادر طبع مضل
چون شکار فقر کردی تو یقین 
هم چوکودک اشک باری یوم دین
گرچه اندر پرورش تن مادرست 
لیک از صد دشمنت دشمن ترست
تن چو شد بیمار دارو جوت کرد 
ور قوی شد مر ترا طاغوت کرد
چون زره دان این تن پر حیف را 
نی شتا را شاید و نه صیف را
یار بد نیکوست بهر صبر را 
که گشاید صبر کردن صدر را
صبر مه با شب منور داردش 
صبر گل با خار اذفر داردش
صبر شیر اندر میان فرث و خون 
کرده او را ناعش ابن اللبون
صبر جملهٔ انبیا با منکران 
کردشان خاص حق و صاحب قران
هر که را بینی یکی جامه درست 
دانک او آن را به صبر و کسب جست
هرکه را دیدی برهنه و بی نوا 
هست بر بی صبری او آن گوا
هرکه مستوحش بود پر غصه جان 
کرده باشد با دغایی اقتران
صبر اگر کردی و الف با وفا 
از فراق او نخوردی این قفا
خوی با حق ساختی چون انگبین 
با لبن که لا احب الافلین
لاجرم تنها نماندی هم چنان 
که آتشی مانده به راه از کاروان
چون ز بی صبری قرین غیر شد 
در فراقش پر غم و بی خیر شد
صحبتت چون هست زر ده دهی 
پیش خاین چون امانت می نهی
خوی با او کن که امانتهای تو 
آمن آید از افول و از عتو
خوی با او کن که خو را آفرید 
خویهای انبیا را پرورید
بره ای بدهی رمه بازت دهد 
پرورندهٔ هر صفت خود رب بود
بره پیش گرگ امانت می نهی 
گرگ و یوسف را مفرما همرهی
گرگ اگر با تو نماید روبهی 
هین مکن باور که ناید زو بهی
جاهل ار با تو نماید هم دلی 
عاقبت زخمت زند از جاهلی
او دو آلت دارد و خنثی بود 
فعل هر دو بی گمان پیدا شود
او ذکر را از زنان پنهان کند 
تا که خود را خواهر ایشان کند
شله از مردان به کف پنهان کند 
تا که خود را جنس آن مردان کند
گفت یزدان زان کس مکتوم او 
شله ای سازیم بر خرطوم او
تا که بینایان ما زان ذو دلال 
در نیایند از فن او در جوال
حاصل آنک از هر ذکر ناید نری 
هین ز جاهل ترس اگر دانش وری
دوستی جاهل شیرین سخن 
کم شنو کان هست چون سم کهن
جان مادر چشم روشن گویدت 
جز غم و حسرت از آن نفزویدت
مر پدر را گوید آن مادر جهار 
که ز مکتب بچه ام شد بس نزار
از زن دیگر گرش آوردیی 
بر وی این جور و جفا کم کردیی
از جز تو گر بدی این بچه ام 
این فشار آن زن بگفتی نیز هم
هین بجه زین مادر و تیبای او 
سیلی بابا به از حلوای او
هست مادر نفس و بابا عقل راد 
اولش تنگی و آخر صد گشاد
ای دهندهٔ عقلها فریاد رس 
تا نخواهی تو نخواهد هیچ کس
هم طلب از تست و هم آن نیکوی 
ما کییم اول توی آخر توی
هم بگو تو هم تو بشنو هم تو باش 
ما همه لاشیم با چندین تراش
زین حواله رغبت افزا در سجود 
کاهلی جبر مفرست و خمود
جبر باشد پر و بال کاملان 
جبر هم زندان و بند کاهلان
هم چو آب نیل دان این جبر را 
آب مؤمن را و خون مر گبر را
بال بازان را سوی سلطان برد 
بال زاغان را به گورستان برد
باز گرد اکنون تو در شرح عدم 
که چو پازهرست و پنداریش سم
هم چو هندوبچه هین ای خواجه تاش 
رو ز محمود عدم ترسان مباش
از وجودی ترس که اکنون در ویی 
آن خیالت لاشی و تو لا شیی
لاشیی بر لاشیی عاشق شدست 
هیچ نی مر هیچ نی را ره زدست
چون برون شد این خیالات از میان 
گشت نامعقول تو بر تو عیان

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## English translation
May God's mercy be upon him, he said,
he has strung the pearl of the tale of King Mahmud the Ghazi.
That from the campaign of India, before that magnanimous one,
a slave fell to his lot as booty.
Then he made him his deputy and seated him on his throne,
chose him over the army and called him his son.
The length, breadth, and description of the tale, fold by fold,
seek in the words of that great one of religion (Sana'i).
In short, that child upon this splendid throne,
sitting beside Qubad the sovereign.
He would weep and shed tears with burning sorrow.
The king said to him, 'O fortunate one!
Why do you weep? Has your fortune become unpalatable?
You are above kings, a companion to the sovereign.
You are on this throne, and viziers and the army
are lined up before your throne like stars and the moon.'
The child said, 'My weeping is bitter because
my mother, in that city and land,
would threaten me with you at every moment,
"May I see you in the hands of Mahmud Arslan!"
Then my father, in answer to my mother,
would quarrel, "What is this anger and torment?
Can you find no other curse
easier than such a deadly curse?
You are very merciless and quite stony-hearted,
that with a hundred swords you are his murderer."
I would become bewildered by the words of them both,
fear and sorrow would fall into my heart,
thinking, "What a hellish nature does Mahmud have, O wonder,
that he has become a proverb in woe and anguish!"
I used to tremble from the fear of you,
unaware of your honor and your reverence.
Where is my mother, that she may see at this time
me upon the throne, O king of the world?'
Poverty is that Mahmud of yours, O one of little capacity;
[your] nature constantly frightens you of it.
If you knew the mercy of this generous Mahmud,
you would happily say, 'May the end be Mahmud (praiseworthy)!'
Poverty is that Mahmud of yours, O fearful heart,
listen less to this misleading mother of [your] nature.
When you make poverty your certain prey,
like the child you will shed tears on the Day of Judgment [saying]:
'Although in nurturing, the body is a mother,
yet it is more of an enemy than a hundred enemies.'
When the body became sick, it made you seek medicine,
and if it became strong, it made you a tyrant (Taghut).
Consider this body full of injustice like a coat of mail,
it is fitting neither for winter nor for summer.
A bad companion is good for the sake of patience,
for being patient expands the breast.
The patience of the moon with the night keeps it luminous;
the patience of the rose with the thorn keeps it fragrant.
The patience of milk amidst feces and blood
has made it the nourisher of the offspring.
The patience of all the prophets with deniers
made them the elite of God and lords of conjunction.
Whomever you see with a sound garment,
know that he sought it through patience and earning.
Whomever you saw naked and destitute,
that is a witness to his impatience.
Whoever is terrified and full of sorrow in soul,
must have associated with an imposter.
If you had practiced patience and kept company with the faithful,
you would not have suffered this slap from separation from him.
You would have blended with the Truth like honey
with milk, [saying] 'I love not the setting ones.'
Consequently, you would not have remained alone thus,
like a fire left on the road by a caravan.
Since, out of impatience, he became a companion to the 'other',
in separation from him, he became full of sorrow and without good.
Since your companionship is of ten-out-of-ten gold,
why do you place it as a trust before a traitor?
Accustom yourself to Him, so that your trusts
may become secure from setting and from insolence.
Accustom yourself to Him Who created character,
[and Who] nurtured the characters of the prophets.
If you give a lamb, He will give you back a flock;
the nurturer of every quality is indeed the Lord.
You place a lamb as a trust before the wolf;
do not command companionship for the wolf and Joseph.
If the wolf plays the fox with you,
beware, do not believe it, for no good will come from him.
If the ignorant one shows sympathy with you,
in the end he will wound you out of ignorance.
He has two organs and is a hermaphrodite;
the action of both will undoubtedly appear.
He hides his male organ from women,
so that he may make himself their sister.
He hides his female part from men with his hand,
so that he may make himself of the same sex as those men.
God said regarding that concealed person of his:
'We shall brand him upon the snout',
so that Our seeing ones, from that two-faced person,
may not be deceived and fall into a sack by his trickery.
In short, from every male organ comes not manliness;
beware, fear the ignorant one if you are possessed of knowledge.
The friendship of the sweet-spoken ignorant one—
listen to it little, for it is like old poison.
He calls you 'mother's soul, bright eye',
but nothing will increase in you from it except sorrow and regret.
That brazen mother says to the father,
'From the school my child has become very thin.
If you had brought him from another wife,
you would have shown less tyranny and cruelty to him.
If this child of mine were from someone other than you,
that woman would also mention this pressure.'
Beware, flee from this mother and her deceit;
the father's slap is better than her halva!
The mother is the carnal soul (nafs), and the father is the sagacious intellect ('aql);
its beginning is constraint, and its end is a hundred openings.
O Giver of intellects, come to our aid!
Until You will it, no one will will it.
Both the seeking is from You, and that goodness;
Who are we? You are the First, You are the Last!
You speak, and You listen, and You be!
We are all non-existent (lash), with so many sculptings.
By this entrusting, increase desire in prostration;
do not send the laziness and torpor of determinism (jabr).
Determinism is the wing and pinion of the perfect ones;
determinism is also the prison and shackle of the lazy.
Consider this determinism like the water of the Nile:
water to the believer, and blood to the unbeliever.
The wing of falcons bears them towards the Sultan;
the wing of crows bears them to the graveyard.
Now return to the exposition of non-existence ('adam),
which is like an antidote, though you think it is poison.
Like the Hindu child, beware, O fellow servant!
Go, do not be afraid of the Mahmud of non-existence.
Fear the existence in which you are now;
that imagination of yours is nothing, and you are nothing.
A nothing has fallen in love with a nothing;
a mere nothing has waylaid a mere nothing.
When these imaginations pass out of the midst,
your un-intelligible [Truth] becomes manifest to you.

دفتر ششم - بخش ۴۵ - قصهٔ سلطان محمود و غلام هندو / Book Six - Section 45 - The Tale of Sultan Mahmud and the Hindu Slave

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