In the Masnavi, Jalaluddin Rumi employs the metaphors of weapons (such as a sword, تیغ) and instruments (آلت) to warn against possessing worldly talents, knowledge, or wealth without spiritual maturity and self-restraint (تقوی). In Book Five, Section 33, Rumi compares himself to a child or a drunkard who is unfit to hold a sword, arguing that choice and talent (هنر) only lead to destruction for the spiritually unripe (خام). This concept mirrors his teaching in Book Four, Section 53, where giving knowledge and wealth to the base-natured is likened to placing a sword in the hands of a highway robber.