In Book 3 of Jalaluddin Rumi's *Masnavi*, the conclusion to the Tale of the Idle Man and Prophet David provides a direct allegorical mapping of its main characters. Rumi reveals that the demanding plaintiff represents the *nafs* (the carnal ego) that falsely claims lordship over the self. The idle man who slaughters the cow represents the *aql* (intellect), which seeks divine "provision without toil," meaning true spiritual sustenance. The cow itself symbolizes the physical form and earthly desires of the body. Rumi asserts that just as the idle man killed the cow to reveal the hidden truth, the spiritual seeker must sacrifice their carnal desires to attain divine nourishment. He further explains that this sacrifice allows the seeker's intellect to transcend worldly causes, relying entirely on the miracles of divine providence, much like the prophets who severed mundane causes to manifest God's infinite power.

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In Book 3 of Jalaluddin Rumi's *Masnavi*, following the public uproar over his seemingly unjust ruling in the case of the slaughtered cow, Prophet David leads the townspeople to a plain to unveil the divine truth. He directs the crowd to a massive tree, declaring that he smells blood at its roots. David publicly exposes the plaintiff—the original owner of the cow—not as an innocent victim of theft, but as an oppressor who previously murdered his own master. Rumi explains that God's forbearance had kept this heinous crime concealed until the plaintiff's ingratitude, greed, and abuse tore his own veil of secrecy. This dramatic revelation completely justifies David's earlier judgment to transfer the plaintiff's wealth and family to the idle man, illustrating the flawless nature of divine justice and the ultimate self-destructive consequences of hidden oppression.

Prophet David's Revelation of the Plaintiff's Hidden Crime in the Masnavi

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نفس خود را کش جهانی را زنده کن 
خواجه را کشتست او را بنده کن
مدعی گاو نفس تست هین 
خویشتن را خواجه کردست و مهین
آن کشندهٔ گاو عقل تست رو 
بر کشنده گاو تن منکر مشو
عقل اسیرست و همی خواهد ز حق 
روزیی بی رنج و نعمت بر طبق
روزی بی رنج او موقوف چیست 
آنک بکشد گاو را کاصل بدیست
نفس گوید چون کشی تو گاو من 
زانک گاو نفس باشد نقش تن
خواجه‌زادهٔ عقل مانده بی‌نوا 
نفس خونی خواجه گشت و پیشوا
روزی بی‌رنج می‌دانی که چیست 
قوت ارواحست و ارزاق نبیست
لیک موقوفست بر قربان گاو 
گنج اندر گاو دان ای کنج‌کاو
دوش چیزی خورده‌ام ور نه تمام 
دادمی در دست فهم تو زمام
دوش چیزی خورده‌ام افسانه است 
هرچه می‌آید ز پنهان خانه است
چشم بر اسباب از چه دوختیم 
گر ز خوش‌چشمان کرشم آموختیم
هست بر اسباب اسبابی دگر 
در سبب منگر در آن افکن نظر
انبیا در قطع اسباب آمدند 
معجزات خویش بر کیوان زدند
بی‌سبب مر بحر را بشکافتند 
بی زراعت چاش گندم یافتند
ریگها هم آرد شد از سعیشان 
پشم بز ابریشم آمد کش‌کشان
جمله قرآن هست در قطع سبب 
عز درویش و هلاک بولهب
مرغ بابیلی دو سه سنگ افکند 
لشکر زفت حبش را بشکند
پیل را سوراخ سوراخ افکند 
سنگ مرغی کو به بالا پر زند
دم گاو کشته بر مقتول زن 
تا شود زنده همان دم در کفن
حلق‌ببریده جهد از جای خویش 
خون خود جوید ز خون‌پالای خویش
همچنین ز آغاز قرآن تا تمام 
رفض اسبابست و علت والسلام
کشف این نه از عقل کارافزا شود 
بندگی کن تا ترا پیداشود
بند معقولات آمد فلسفی 
شهسوار عقل عقل آمد صفی
عقل عقلت مغز و عقل تست پوست 
معدهٔ حیوان همیشه پوست‌جوست
مغزجوی از پوست دارد صد ملال 
مغز نغزان را حلال آمد حلال
چونک قشر عقل صد برهان دهد 
عقل کل کی گام بی ایقان نهد
عقل دفترها کند یکسر سیاه 
عقل عقل آفاق دارد پر ز ماه
از سیاهی و سپیدی فارغست 
نور ماهش بر دل و جان بازغست
این سیاه و این سپید ار قدر یافت 
زان شب قدرست کاختروار تافت
قیمت همیان و کیسه از زرست 
بی ز زر همیان و کیسه ابترست
همچنانک قدر تن از جان بود 
قدر جان از پرتو جانان بود
گر بدی جان زنده بی پرتو کنون 
هیچ گفتی کافران را میتون
هین بگو که ناطقه جو می‌کند 
تا به قرنی بعد ما آبی رسد
گرچه هر قرنی سخن‌آری بود 
لیک گفت سالفان یاری بود
نه که هم توریت و انجیل و زبور 
شد گواه صدق قرآن ای شکور
روزی بی‌رنج جو و بی‌حساب 
کز بهشتت آورد جبریل سیب
بلک رزقی از خداوند بهشت 
بی‌صداع باغبان بی رنج کشت
زانک نفع نان در آن نان داد اوست 
بدهدت آن نفع بی توسیط پوست
ذوق پنهان نقش نان چون سفره‌ایست 
نان بی سفره ولی را بهره‌ایست
رزق جانی کی بری با سعی و جست 
جز به عدل شیخ کو داود تست
نفس چون با شیخ بیند کام تو 
از بن دندان شود او رام تو
صاحب آن گاو رام آنگاه شد 
کز دم داود او آگاه شد
عقل گاهی غالب آید در شکار 
برسگ نفست که باشد شیخ یار
نفس اژدرهاست با صد زور و فن 
روی شیخ او را زمرد دیده کن
گر تو صاحب گاو را خواهی زبون 
چون خران سیخش کن آن سو ای حرون
چون به نزدیک ولی الله شود 
آن زبان صد گزش کوته شود
صد زبان و هر زبانش صد لغت 
زرق و دستانش نیاید در صفت
مدعی گاو نفس آمد فصیح 
صد هزاران حجت آرد ناصحیح
شهر را بفریبد الا شاه را 
ره نتاند زد شه آگاه را
نفس را تسبیح و مصحف در یمین 
خنجر و شمشیر اندر آستین
مصحف و سالوس او باور مکن 
خویش با او هم‌سر و هم‌سر مکن
سوی حوضت آورد بهر وضو 
واندر اندازد ترا در قعر او
عقل نورانی و نیکو طالبست 
نفس ظلمانی برو چون غالبست
زانک او در خانه عقل تو غریب 
بر در خود سگ بود شیر مهیب
باش تا شیران سوی بیشه روند 
وین سگان کور آنجا بگروند
مکر نفس و تن نداند عام شهر 
او نگردد جز بوحی القلب قهر
هر که جنس اوست یار او شود 
جز مگر داود کان شیخت بود
کو مبدل گشت و جنس تن نماند 
هر که را حق در مقام دل نشاند
خلق جمله علتی‌اند از کمین 
یار علت می‌شود علت یقین
هر خسی دعوی داودی کند 
هر که بی تمییز کف در وی زند
از صیادی بشنود آواز طیر 
مرغ ابله می‌کند آن سوی سیر
نقد را از نقل نشناسد غویست 
هین ازو بگریز اگر چه معنویست
رسته و بر بسته پیش او یکیست 
گر یقین دعوی کند او در شکیست
این چنین کس گر ذکی مطلقست 
چونش این تمییز نبود احمقست
هین ازو بگریز چون آهو ز شیر 
سوی او مشتاق ای دانا دلیر

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## English translation
Slay your own nafs and bring a world to life; it has slain the master, so make it the slave. The claimant to the cow is your nafs: beware; it has made itself lord and chief. The slayer of the cow is your intellect; go, do not deny the slayer of the body's cow. The intellect is captive and keeps seeking from God provision without hardship and bounty on a tray. On what is that toil-free provision conditional? On the one who slays the cow, which is the root of evil. The nafs says, 'How will you slay my cow?' for the cow of the nafs is the body's form. The noble-born child, the intellect, has been left destitute; the murderous nafs has become lord and leader. Do you know what provision without toil is? It is the nourishment of spirits and the provisions of prophets. But it is conditional on sacrificing the cow; know the treasure to be inside the cow, O seeker. 'Last night I ate something; otherwise I would have put the whole rein into the hand of your understanding.' 'Last night I ate something' is only a tale; whatever comes comes from the hidden house. Why have we fixed our eyes on causes, if we have learned glances and coquetries from the beautiful-eyed ones? There are causes beyond causes; do not look at the proximate cause, cast your gaze there. The prophets came to sever causes; they struck their miracles as high as Saturn. Without ordinary cause they split the sea; without sowing they found piles of wheat. Sands too became flour through their striving; goat hair was drawn along as silk. The whole Qur'an is about severing causes: the honor of the poor and the destruction of Abu Lahab. The birds of Ababil cast two or three stones and broke the huge Abyssinian army. A bird's stone, from one flying above, made the elephant full of holes. Strike part of the slain cow upon the murdered man, so that he comes alive that same instant in his shroud. With throat cut, he leaps from his place and seeks his blood from his blood-shedder. Thus from the beginning of the Qur'an to its end there is rejection of causes and explanations; peace. Unveiling of this does not come from the busily contriving intellect; serve, so that it may become manifest to you. The philosopher is bound by intelligibles; the pure one is the horseman of the intellect of intellect. The intellect of your intellect is kernel, and your intellect is husk; the animal's stomach always seeks husk. The kernel-seeker has a hundred vexations from the husk; fine kernels are lawful, lawful, for the fine-kernelled. When the husk of intellect gives a hundred proofs, how would the Universal Intellect take a step without certainty? Intellect blackens notebooks from end to end; the intellect of intellect has the horizons full of moon. It is free from black and white; its moonlight rises over heart and soul. If this black and this white acquired value, it was from the Night of Power, which shone like a star. The worth of purse and pouch is from gold; without gold, purse and pouch are defective. Just as the body's worth is from the soul, the soul's worth is from the Beloved's radiance. If the soul were alive without that radiance now, would He ever say to the unbelievers, 'Die'? Come, say it, for the speaking faculty is digging a channel so that water may reach a century after us. Although every century has one who brings speech, still the words of predecessors are a support. Did not the Torah, Gospel, and Psalms also become witnesses to the truth of the Qur'an, O grateful one? Seek provision without toil and without reckoning, for Gabriel brings you an apple from Paradise. Rather, provision from the Lord of Paradise, without the gardener's headache and without the toil of planting. For the benefit of bread is what He has placed in that bread; He can give you that benefit without the mediation of the husk. The hidden taste: the form of bread is like a tablecloth; bread without the tablecloth is the saint's portion. When will you obtain spiritual provision by effort and search, except through the justice of the shaykh who is your David? When the nafs sees that your desire is with the shaykh, it becomes tame to you down to the roots of its teeth. The owner of that cow became tame only when he learned of David's breath. The intellect sometimes prevails in the hunt over the dog of your nafs when the shaykh is its companion. The nafs is a dragon with a hundred strengths and tricks; make the shaykh's face an emerald to its eye. If you want the owner of the cow humbled, drive him that way with a goad as one drives donkeys, O stubborn one. When he comes near the friend of God, that hundred-cubit tongue of his is shortened. A hundred tongues, each tongue with a hundred idioms: its deception and tricks cannot be described. The nafs, claimant to the cow, comes eloquent and brings hundreds of thousands of unsound arguments. It deceives the city, except the king; it cannot waylay the aware king. The nafs has rosary and Qur'an in its right hand, and dagger and sword in its sleeve. Do not believe its Qur'an and hypocrisy; do not make yourself equal and consort with it. It brings you to your pool for ablution, then throws you into its depths. The intellect is luminous and seeks the good; how, then, is the dark nafs dominant over it? Because the intellect is a stranger in the house of your body; at its own door, a dog is a terrifying lion. Wait until the lions go toward the thicket, and these blind dogs follow there. The common people of the city do not know the wiles of nafs and body; it is not subdued except by revelation to the heart. Whoever is of its kind becomes its companion, except David, who is your shaykh. He has been transformed and has not remained of the body's kind: whoever God has seated in the station of the heart. All creatures are hidden illnesses; the friend of illness surely becomes illness. Every base fellow claims Davidhood; whoever, without discernment, strikes his hand into allegiance with him is like a foolish bird that hears a hunter's bird-call and travels that way. Whoever cannot distinguish ready cash from mere report is deluded; flee from him, even if he seems spiritual. Freed and bound are one to him; if he claims certainty, he is in doubt. Such a person, even if absolutely clever, is a fool because he lacks this discernment. Beware: flee from him like a deer from a lion, though you may be drawn toward him, O wise brave heart.

دفتر سوم - بخش ۱۱۶ - بیان آنک نفس آدمی بجای آن خونیست کی مدعی گاو گشته بود و آن گاو کشنده عقلست و داود حقست یا شیخ کی نایب حق است کی بقوت و یاری او تواند ظالم را کشتن و توانگر شدن به روزی بی‌کسب و بی‌حساب / Book Three - Section 116 - Explaining that the human nafs is in the place of that murderer who had become the claimant of the cow, and the slayer of the cow is the intellect, and David is the Truth or the Sheikh who is the deputy of the Truth, by whose power and help one can slay the oppressor and become wealthy with provision without toil and without reckoning

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In Book 3 of Jalaluddin Rumi's Masnavi, following Prophet David's revelation of the plaintiff's hidden crime, Rumi expounds on how the nafs (carnal ego) inevitably betrays itself. He explains that an oppressor's inward state does not remain a secret; rather, during moments of intense anger or argument, their own hands, feet, and tongue involuntarily bear witness to their spiritual corruption. Rumi likens the ungrateful plaintiff—who stubbornly demanded justice for a slaughtered cow while hiding his own murderous past—to the nafs. Instead of showing humility or seeking forgiveness, the ego throws off sparks that reveal its fiery, destructive nature. The poet warns the spiritual seeker to sever ties with this unrepentant ego, noting that just as a stone cannot produce a pearl, the corrupted nafs is incapable of genuine repentance or crying out to God.

The Betrayal of the Nafs and the Body's Witness in the Masnavi

In Book 3 of Jalaluddin Rumi's *Masnavi*, following Prophet David's revelation of the plaintiff's hidden crime, David executes divine justice by ordering retaliation against the murderer. This profound display of divine omniscience causes the townspeople to repent, realizing they had been "blind from the root." In their prostration, the crowd recounts David's celebrated physical miracles: stones speaking to him, his defeat of Goliath with a sling, iron softening like wax in his hands, and mountains joining him in singing the Psalms. However, Rumi uses this climax to emphasize a crucial spiritual hierarchy. He asserts that while physical miracles are awe-inspiring, the ultimate miracle is the bestowal of eternal spiritual life. By executing the wrongdoer, David not only restores justice but spiritually revives an entire community, awakening their deadened souls and turning them anew into sincere servants of God.

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