Overview

In Section 12 of Jami's Baharestan, a dog is asked why it can neither circle the house it lives in nor cross the threshold where it sleeps. The dog replies that it is free of greed and avarice and famed for contentment: satisfied with a morsel of bread and a dry bone, unlike the beggar who is enslaved by covetousness, hoarding a week's provisions while still begging and denying that he is ever sated.

Key Themes

• Contentment (Qana'ah) versus Greed (Hers wa Tama'): The dog embodies restraint and sufficiency, while the greedy beggar illustrates the restless hunger of avarice.
• Inversion of the Dog Motif: Unlike allegories in which the dog figures the insatiable carnal self (nafs), here the dog is a positive model of self-restraint that shames human covetousness.
• The Closing Verses: Wherever contentment sets foot in a heart, it binds the hand of greed and avarice; wherever it displays its wares, it shatters the market of covetousness.

The anecdote te...