In Sufi poetry and Rumi's Masnavi, the Cupbearer (Saqi) and wine (sharab/may) are central metaphors for spiritual transmission and divine love. The Cupbearer represents either the divine guide (Murshid) or God Himself, who actively dispenses spiritual ecstasy to seekers. The wine represents divine grace, gnosis, and the intoxicating love of God that transcends exoteric intellectual boundaries. In narratives like Book Six, Section 113, the forced feeding of wine by the Cupbearer symbolizes how divine grace and attraction (jazba) can forcefully break through an individual's exoteric intellectual pride and legalistic resistance, leading them to spiritual transformation.

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## Original content
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پادشاهی مست اندر بزم خوش 
می گذشت آن یک فقیهی بر درش
کرد اشارت کش درین مجلس کشید 
وان شراب لعل را با او چشید
پس کشیدندش به شه بی اختیار 
شست در مجلس ترش چون زهر و مار
عرضه کردش می نپذرفت او به خشم 
از شه و ساقی بگردانید چشم
که به عمر خود نخوردستم شراب 
خوشتر آید از شرابم زهر ناب
هین به جای می به من زهری دهید 
تا من از خویش و شما زین وا رهید
می نخورده عربده آغاز کرد 
گشته در مجلس گران چون مرگ و درد
هم چو اهل نفس و اهل آب و گل 
در جهان بنشسته با اصحاب دل
حق ندارد خاصگان را در کمون 
از می احرار جز در یشربون
عرضه می دارند بر محجوب جام 
حس نمی یابد از آن غیر کلام
رو همی گرداند از ارشادشان 
که نمی بیند به دیده دادشان
گر ز گوشش تا به حلقش ره بدی 
سر نصح اندر درونشان در شدی
چون همه نارست جانش نیست نور 
که افکند در نار سوزان جز قشور
مغز بیرون ماند و قشر گفت رفت 
کی شود از قشر معده گرم و زفت
نار دوزخ جز که قشر افشار نیست 
نار را با هیچ مغزی کار نیست
ور بود بر مغز ناری شعله زن 
بهر پختن دان نه بهر سوختن
تا که باشد حق حکیم این قاعده 
مستمر دان در گذشته و نامده
مغز نغز و قشرها مغفور ازو 
مغز را پس چون بسوزد دور ازو
از عنایت گر بکوبد بر سرش 
اشتها آید شراب احمرش
ور نکوبد ماند او بسته دهان 
چون فقیه از شرب و بزم این شهان
گفت شه با ساقیش ای نیک پی 
چه خموشی ده به طبعش آر هی
هست پنهان حاکمی بر هر خرد 
هرکه را خواهد به فن از سر برد
آفتاب مشرق و تنویر او 
چون اسیران بسته در زنجیر او
چرخ را چرخ اندر آرد در زمن 
چون بخواند در دماغش نیم فن
عقل کو عقل دگر را سخره کرد 
مهره زو دارد ویست استاد نرد
چند سیلی بر سرش زد گفت گیر 
در کشید از بیم سیلی آن زحیر
مست گشت و شاد و خندان شد چو باغ 
در ندیمی و مضاحک رفت و لاغ
شیرگیر و خوش شد انگشتک بزد 
سوی مبرز رفت تا میزک کند
یک کنیزک بود در مبرز چو ماه 
سخت زیبا و ز قرناقان شاه
چون بدید او را دهانش باز ماند 
عقل رفت و تن ستم پرداز ماند
عمرها بوده عزب مشتاق و مست 
بر کنیزک در زمان در زد دو دست
بس طپید آن دختر و نعره فراشت 
بر نیامد با وی و سودی نداشت
زن به دست مرد در وقت لقا 
چون خمیر آمد به دست نانبا
بسرشد گاهیش نرم و گه درشت 
زو بر آرد چاق چاقی زیر مشت
گاه پهنش واکشد بر تخته ای 
درهمش آرد گهی یک لخته ای
گاه در وی ریزد آب و گه نمک 
از تنور و آتشش سازد محک
این چنین پیچند مطلوب و طلوب 
اندرین لعبند مغلوب و غلوب
این لعب تنها نه شو را با زنست 
هر عشیق و عاشقی را این فنست
از قدیم و حادث و عین و عرض 
پیچشی چون ویس و رامین مفترض
لیک لعب هر یکی رنگی دگر 
پیچش هر یک ز فرهنگی دگر
شوی و زن را گفته شد بهر مثیل 
که مکن ای شوی زن را بد گسیل
آن شب گردک نه ینگا دست او 
خوش امانت داد اندر دست تو
کانچ با او تو کنی ای معتمد 
از بد و نیکی خدا با تو کند
حاصل این جا این فقیه از بی خودی 
نه عفیفی ماندش و نه زاهدی
آن فقیه افتاد بر آن حورزاد 
آتش او اندر آن پنبه فتاد
جان به جان پیوست و قالب ها چخید 
چون دو مرغ سربریده می طپید
چه سقایه چه ملک چه ارسلان 
چه حیا چه دین چه بیم و خوف جان
چشمشان افتاده اندر عین و غین 
نه حسن پیداست این جا نه حسین
شد دراز و کو طریق بازگشت 
انتظار شاه هم از حد گذشت
شاه آمد تا ببیند واقعه 
دید آن جا زلزلهٔ القارعه
آن فقیه از بیم برجست و برفت 
سوی مجلس جام را بربود تفت
شه چو دوزخ پر شرار و پر نکال 
تشنهٔ خون دو جفت بدفعال
چون فقیهش دید رخ پر خشم و قهر 
تلخ و خونی گشته هم چون جام زهر
بانگ زد بر ساقیش که ای گرم دار 
چه نشستی خیره ده در طبعش آر
خنده آمد شاه را گفت ای کیا 
آمدم با طبع آن دختر ترا
پادشاهم کار من عدلست و داد 
زان خورم که یار را جودم بداد
آنچ آن را من ننوشم هم چو نوش 
کی دهم در خورد یار و خویش و توش
زان خورانم من غلامان را که من 
می خورم بر خوان خاص خویشتن
زان خورانم بندگان را از طعام 
که خورم من خود ز پخته یا ز خام
من چو پوشم از خز و اطلس لباس 
زان بپوشانم حشم را نه پلاس
شرم دارم از نبی ذو فنون 
البسوهم گفت مما تلبسون
مصطفی کرد این وصیت با بنون 
اطعموا الاذناب مما تاکلون
دیگران را بس به طبع آورده ای 
در صبوری چست و راغب کرده ای
هم به طبع آور بمردی خویش را 
پیشوا کن عقل صبراندیش را
چون قلاووزی صبرت پر شود 
جان به اوج عرش و کرسی بر شود
مصطفی بین که چو صبرش شد براق 
بر کشانیدش به بالای طباق

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## English translation
A drunken king was in a joyous banquet,
A certain jurisprudent (faqih) passed by his door.
He gave a sign that they should drag him into this assembly,
And taste that ruby wine with him.
So they dragged him to the king involuntarily;
He sat in the assembly, sour as poison and a snake.
He offered him wine, he did not accept it in anger;
He turned his eyes away from the king and the cupbearer.
Saying, 'In my life I have never drunk wine;
Pure poison is more pleasant to me than wine.
Come on, give me a poison instead of wine,
So that I may be delivered from myself, and you from this.'
Without drinking wine, he began to brawl;
He became as burdensome in the assembly as death and pain.
Like the people of the flesh and the people of water and clay,
Sitting in the world with the masters of the heart.
God does not hold His chosen ones in concealment,
From the wine of the free, except in 'they drink' (yashrabun).
They offer the cup to the veiled one;
His senses perceive from it nothing but words.
He constantly turns his face away from their guidance,
Because he does not see their justice with his eyes.
If there were a way from his ear to his throat,
The secret of counsel would enter their inside.
Since his soul is all fire, it is not light;
Who throws anything into the burning fire but husks?
The kernel remained outside, and the husk of words departed;
When will the stomach become warm and fat from the husk?
The fire of Hell is nothing but a squeezer of husks;
Fire has no business with any kernel.
And if a fire is flaming upon a kernel,
Know it is for baking, not for burning.
As long as God is the Wise, know this rule
To be continuous in the past and the future.
The kernel is excellent, and the husks are forgiven by Him;
So how should He burn the kernel? Far be it from Him!
By grace, if He strikes him on the head,
His appetite for the red wine will come.
And if He does not strike, he remains with closed mouth,
Like the jurisprudent from the drink and banquet of these kings.
The king said to his cupbearer, 'O you of good footsteps,
Why are you silent? Give! Bring him into the mood, hey!'
There is a hidden ruler over every intellect,
Who, by His art, takes away the senses of whomever He wishes.
The sun of the east and its illumination,
Are like captives bound in His chain.
He brings the wheeling heaven into a whirl in time,
When He recites half a spell into its brain.
The intellect that subjected another intellect,
Has the piece from Him; He is the master of backgammon.
He struck a few slaps on his head and said, 'Take it!'
From fear of the slap, that afflicted one drank it down.
He became drunk, and glad, and smiling like a garden;
He went into companionship, and jesting, and joking.
He became bold as a lion and happy, he snapped his fingers;
He went towards the privy to make water.
There was a handmaiden in the privy, like the moon,
Very beautiful and one of the king's concubines.
When he saw her, his mouth remained open;
His intellect departed, and his body remained ready for wrongdoing.
For lifetimes he had been celibate, longing and drunk;
He immediately laid both hands upon the handmaiden.
That girl struggled much and raised a cry;
She could not overcome him, and it was of no use.
A woman in the hands of a man at the time of union,
Is like dough in the hands of the baker.
He kneads it sometimes soft and sometimes rough;
He brings out a slapping sound from it under his fist.
Sometimes he spreads it out wide on a board;
Sometimes he brings it together in one lump.
Sometimes he pours water on it, and sometimes salt;
He makes a touchstone of it from the oven and the fire.
In this way the sought and the seeker twist together;
In this play, they are the conquered and the conqueror.
This play is not only for the husband with the wife;
Every beloved and lover has this art.
From the eternal and the temporal, and substance and accident,
A twisting like that of Vis and Ramin is necessitated.
But the play of each one has another color;
The twisting of each is from another culture.
Husband and wife were mentioned for the sake of example,
Saying, 'O husband, do not send your wife away badly.'
On the wedding night, did not the bride-dresser
Happily give her hand as a trust into your hand?
For whatever you do with her, O trusted one,
Of good and evil, God will do with you.
In short, here this jurisprudent, out of selflessness,
Had neither chastity left, nor asceticism.
That jurisprudent fell upon that houri-born;
His fire fell into that cotton.
Soul joined soul, and bodies strove;
He was fluttering like two beheaded birds.
What of the cupbearer, what of the king, what of the lion?
What of modesty, what of religion, what of fear and dread for his life?
Their eyes had fallen into 'ayn' and 'ghayn';
Neither Hasan is visible here, nor Husayn.
It became long, and where is the way of return?
The king's expectation also passed the limit.
The king came to see what had happened;
He saw there the earthquake of 'the Striking Hour'.
That jurisprudent jumped up out of fear and went away;
Towards the assembly, he snatched the cup hastily.
The king, like Hell, full of sparks and full of punishment,
Thirsty for the blood of the two evil-doing mates.
When his jurisprudent saw a face full of wrath and anger,
Become bitter and bloody like a cup of poison,
He shouted at his cupbearer, 'O you who keep things warm!
Why are you sitting bewildered? Give! Bring him into the mood!'
Laughter came to the king; he said, 'O sir,
I matched your mood with that girl.
I am a king, my work is justice and equity;
I eat of that which my bounty gave to the friend.
That which I do not drink as a sweet draught,
When would I give it to be eaten by friend, kinsman, and provisions?
I feed my slaves from that which I
Eat at my own special table.
I feed the servants with the food,
That I myself eat, whether cooked or raw.
When I wear garments of silk and satin,
I clothe my retinue in the same, not in coarse cloth.
I am ashamed before the Prophet of many arts;
He said, "Clothe them from what you clothe yourselves."
Mustafa made this testament to the sons:
"Feed the dependents from what you eat."
You have brought others well into the mood;
You have made them active and desirous in patience.
Also, bring yourself into the mood manfully;
Make the patience-thinking intellect your guide.
When the guidance of your patience becomes full,
Your soul will ascend to the zenith of the Throne and the Footstool.
Behold Mustafa, when patience became his Buraq,
It drew him up above the layers of heaven.'

دفتر ششم - بخش ۱۱۳ - ذکر آن پادشاه که آن دانشمند را به اکراه در مجلس آورد و بنشاند ساقی شراب بر دانشمند عرضه کرد ساغر پیش او داشت رو بگردانید و ترشی و تندی آغاز کرد شاه ساقی را گفت کی هین در طبعش آر ساقی چندی بر سرش کوفت و شرابش در خورد داد الی آخره / Book Six - Section 113 - Mention of that king who brought that scholar to the assembly by force and seated him; the cupbearer offered wine to the scholar and held the goblet before him; he turned his face away and began to show sourness and harshness; the king told the cupbearer, 'Hey, bring him into the mood!'; the cupbearer struck him on the head a few times and made him drink the wine, to the end

## Original content
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اعجمی ترکی سحر آگاه شد 
وز خمار خمر مطرب خواه شد
مطرب جان مونس مستان بود 
نقل و قوت و قوت مست آن بود
مطرب ایشان را سوی مستی کشید 
باز مستی از دم مطرب چشید
آن شراب حق بدان مطرب برد 
وین شراب تن ازین مطرب چرد
هر دو گر یک نام دارد در سخن 
لیک شتان این حسن تا آن حسن
اشتباهی هست لفظی در بیان 
لیک خود کو آسمان تا ریسمان
اشتراک لفظ دایم ره زنست 
اشتراک گبر و مؤمن در تنست
جسم ها چون کوزه های بسته سر 
تا که در هر کوزه چه بود آن نگر
کوزهٔ آن تن پر از آب حیات 
کوزهٔ این تن پر از زهر ممات
گر به مظروفش نظر داری شهی 
ور به ظرفش بنگری تو گم رهی
لفظ را مانندهٔ این جسم دان 
معنیش را در درون مانند جان
دیدهٔ تن دایما تن بین بود 
دیدهٔ جان جان پر فن بین بود
پس ز نقش لفظ های مثنوی 
صورتی ضال است و هادی معنوی
در نبی فرمود کاین قرآن ز دل 
هادی بعضی و بعضی را مضل
الله الله چونک عارف گفت می 
پیش عارف کی بود معدوم شی
فهم تو چون بادهٔ شیطان بود 
کی ترا وهم می رحمان بود
این دو انبازند مطرب با شراب 
این بدان و آن بدین آرد شتاب
پر خماران از دم مطرب چرند 
مطربانشان سوی میخانه برند
آن سر میدان و این پایان اوست 
دل شده چون گوی در چوگان اوست
در سر آنچه هست گوش آنجا رود 
در سر ار صفراست آن سودا شود
بعد از آن این دو به بیهوشی روند 
والد و مولود آن جا یک شوند
چونک کردند آشتی شادی و درد 
مطربان را ترک ما بیدار کرد
مطرب آغازید بیتی خوابناک 
که انلنی الکاس یا من لا اراک
انت وجهی لا عجب ان لا اراه 
غایة القرب حجاب الاشتباه
انت عقلی لا عجب ان لم ارک 
من وفور الالتباس المشتبک
جئت اقرب انت من حبل الورید 
کم اقل یا یا نداء للبعید
بل اغالطهم انادی فی القفار 
کی اکتم من معی ممن اغار

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## English translation
An illiterate Turk awoke at dawn,
And from the hangover of wine, sought a minstrel.
The minstrel of the soul is the companion of the intoxicated;
It is the dessert, sustenance, and strength of the drunkard.
The minstrel drew them toward intoxication,
And again intoxication tasted the breath of the minstrel.
That divine wine carries (one) to that minstrel,
While this bodily wine grazes on this (earthly) minstrel.
Even if both share one name in speech,
Yet what a difference between this Hasan and that Hasan!
There is a verbal ambiguity in expression,
But really, where is the sky and where is the rope?
Equivocation of words is constantly a highway robber;
The sharing of the Zoroastrian and the believer is only in the physical body.
Bodies are like tightly sealed jugs;
Look to see what is in each jug.
The jug of that body is full of the water of life;
The jug of this body is full of the poison of death.
If you look at what is contained, you are a king;
And if you look at the vessel, you are lost.
Consider the word to be like this body,
And its meaning within it like the soul.
The eye of the body is always body-seeing;
The eye of the soul sees the soul full of art.
Therefore, from the forms of the words of the Masnavi,
Its form leads astray, while its meaning guides.
In the Quran, He said that this Quran from the heart,
Is a guide for some, and a misleader for others.
For God's sake, when the mystic says 'wine',
How could 'non-existence' exist before the mystic?
Since your understanding is of Satan's wine,
How can you have the conception of the wine of the Merciful?
These two are partners: the minstrel and the wine;
This one hastens to that, and that one to this.
Those full of hangover graze upon the minstrel's breath;
Their minstrels lead them toward the tavern.
That is the head of the polo field and this is its end;
The distracted heart is like a ball in its polo stick.
Whatever is in the head, the ear goes there;
If there is yellow bile in the head, it becomes black bile.
After that, these two go into unconsciousness;
The begetter and the begotten become one there.
When joy and pain made peace,
Our Turk awakened the minstrels.
The minstrel began a sleepy verse,
Saying, 'Give me the cup, O You whom I do not see!'
'You are my face, no wonder I do not see it;
The extremity of nearness is the veil of obfuscation.'
'You are my intellect, no wonder if I do not see You,
Due to the abundance of intertwining entanglement.'
'You have come closer than the jugular vein,
How many times shall I say "O" which is a call to the distant?'
'Nay, I mislead them, calling out in the deserts,
In order to hide the One who is with me from the one of whom I am jealous.'

دفتر ششم - بخش ۱۸ - استدعاء امیر ترک مخمور مطرب را به وقت صبوح و تفسیر این حدیث کی ان لله تعالی شرابا اعده لاولیائه اذا شربوا سکروا و اذا سکروا طابوا الی آخر الحدیث. می در خم اسرار بدان می‌جوشد؛ تا هر که مجردست از آن می‌نوشد قال الله تعالی ان الابرار یشربون این می که تو می‌خوری حرامست ما می نخوریم جز حلالی «جهد کن تا ز نیست هست شوی وز شراب خدای مست شوی» / Book Six - Section 18 - The hungover Turkish emir summoning the minstrel at the time of the morning draught, and the commentary on this Hadith: 'Verily God Most High has a wine prepared for His friends; when they drink, they become intoxicated, and when they are intoxicated, they become pure' to the end of the Hadith. 'The wine in the jar of secrets boils for this; so that whoever is detached may drink of it.' God Most High said: 'Verily the righteous shall drink.' 'This wine that you drink is forbidden; we do not drink anything but what is lawful.' 'Strive so that from non-existence you may become existent, and become intoxicated with the wine of God.'

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The Metaphor of the Cupbearer (Saqi) and Wine in the Masnavi

In the Masnavi, Jalaluddin Rumi employs the metaphor of the jug (kuzah) and the wine (may/sharab) to illustrate the relationship between external form (surat) and spiritual essence (ma'na). While the physical form of the beloved (or any worldly object) is merely an earthly vessel, the beauty or spiritual truth contained within it is divine wine poured by God. Rumi emphasizes that those who focus purely on outward appearances see only the vessel, whereas those with spiritual insight (the 'eyes of Majnun') perceive the divine essence within.

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