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The Parable of the Cross-Eyed Stranger Named Umar in Kash in Masnavi Book Six

In Book Six of Jalaluddin Rumi's Masnavi, the parable of the stranger named Umar in the city of Kash serves as a profound allegory for spiritual dualism (double-sightedness or ahwal). In Kash, a strongly Shiite city of the time, the name Umar is highly unpopular. When the stranger named Umar asks a baker for bread, the baker redirects him to another shop under a false pretense. He is repeatedly referred from one shop to another without obtaining any bread.

Because of his 'double-sightedness' (metaphorical squint/dualism), the stranger fails to realize that all the shops are united in their refusal and act as a single cooperative entity. Rumi uses this to illustrate how spiritually blind individuals perceive the multiple phenomena and secondary causes of the material world as separate, independent forces. In reality, all of existence and its occurrences stem from a single Divine Source. Had the stranger recognized this unity, he would have repented and changed his name (aligned hi...

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Updated 2026-07-04

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Persian Literature Prerequisite Course