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The below list gives an overview of the stories in Rumi's Masnavi, as it appears in Reynold A. Nicholson's translation.

Contents

Book I

Book II

Book III

Book IV

Book V

Book VI

References

Book I

★ Preface (in prose)

★ Proem

★ The King and the Handmaiden

★ The Greengrocer and the Parrot

★ The Jewish King whose Vizier contrived a plot against the Christians

★ The Caliph and Laylá

★ The description of Mohammed in the Gospel

★ Another Jewish King who persecuted the Christians

★ The punishment inflicted on a man who scoffed at Mohammed

★ The Wind which destroyed the people of ‘Ad .

★ The Lion and the Beasts of chase

★ Azrael and the man who took refuge with Solomon Solomon and the Hoopoe

★ The Fall of Adam

★ The Holy War against the Flesh

★ The Caliph ‘Umar and the Ambassador

★ How Adam acknowledged, while Iblis denied, responsibility for sin

★ “And He is with you, wheresoever ye be”

★ “Let him who desires to sit with God sit with the Súfís”

★ The Merchant and the Parrot which gave him a message to the parrots of India

★ The Spiritual Birds that are Divine Intelligences

★ Commentary on a saying of Faridu’ddín ‘Attár .

★ The respect paid to Moses by Pharaoh’s magicians

★ Commentary on a saying of Saná’í, and a Discourse on a Tradition of the Prophet concerning the jealousy of God

★ The harmfulness of being honoured by the people

★ “Whatsoever God wills cometh to pass”

★ The Story of the Harper

★ Explanation of a Tradition of the Prophet concerning Divine inspiration

★ A Story of ‘A’isha and the Prophet

★ Commentary on a verse of Saná’i

★ “Take advantage of the coolness of the spring season”

★ The Moaning Pillar

★ A miracle performed by the Prophet in the presence of Abú Jahl

★ The Prodigal for whom the angels pray

★ The munificent Caliph

★ The Arab of the Desert and his Wife

★ False saints

★ The power of Faith

★ Light and colour

★ Explanation of the Tradition that women prevail over the wise man, while the ignorant man prevails over them

★ The mystery of Moses and Pharaoh

★ “He has lost this life and the life to come”

★ The prophet Sálih and the people of Thamúd

★ The barrier between the righteous and the wicked

★ What is meat to the saint is poison to the disciple

★ The Divine Bounty and those who beg for it

★ The two kinds of “poor”

★ The World’s lovers

★ The proverb, “If you commit fornication, commit it with a free woman, and if you steal, steal a pearl”

★ The Grammarian and the Boatman

★ The Spiritual Guide

★ The Prophet’s injunction to ‘Alí

★ The man of Qazwín who wanted to have a lion tattooed on his shoulder

★ The wolf and the fox who went to hunt with the Lion .

★ The man who knocked at his friend’s door and, on being asked who he was, answered, “‘Tis I”

★ Description of Unification

★ Noah as the God-man

★ Why the Súfís who know God are seated in front of kings

★ Joseph and the guest-friend who could find no suitable gift for him except a mirror

★ Mohammed and the scribe who wrote down the Qur’ánic Revelations

★ Bal’am son of Bá’úr

★ Hárút and Márút

★ The deaf man and his sick neighbour

★ Iblis the originator of analogical reasoning applied to the Word of God

★ Mystical experiences must be kept hidden from the vulgar

★ The contention between the Greek and Chinese artists

★ The Vision of Zayd

★ Luqmán and his fellow-servants

★ The conflagration in Medina in the days of the Caliph 'Umar

★ 'Alí and the infidel who spat in his face

★ 'Alí and his murderer

★ The self-conceit shown by Adam towards Iblís

★ The unworldliness of the Prophet

Book II

★ Preface (in prose)

★ Proem

★ The Caliph ‘Umar and the man who thought he saw the new moon

★ The fool who entreated Jesus to bring some bones to life

★ The Sufi who enjoined the servant to take care of his ass

★ The King and his lost falcon

★ Shaykh Ahmad son of Khizrúya and his creditors

★ The answer of an ascetic who was warned not to weep, lest he should become blind

★ The peasant who stroked a lion in the dark

★ The Súfis who sold the traveller’s ass

★ The greedy insolvent

★ Parable for those who say “if”

★ The man who killed his mother because he suspected her of adultery

★ The King and his two slaves

★ The King’s retainers who envied his favourite slave

★ The falcon amongst the owls

★ The thirsty man who threw bricks into the water

★ The man who planted a thornbush in the road and delayed to uproot it

★ Dhu'l-Nún and the friends who came to visit him in the mad-house

★ The sagacity of Luqmán

★ The reverence of Bilqís for the message of Solomon which was brought to her by the hoopoe

★ The philosopher who showed disbelief in the ''Qur’án''

★ Moses and the shepherd

★ The Amír and the sleeping man into whose mouth a snake had crept

★ The fool who trusted the bear

★ The blind beggar who said, “I have two blindnesses”

★ Moses and the worshipper of the golden calf

★ Galen and the madman

★ The cause of a bird’s flying and feeding with a bird that is not of its own kind

★ Mohammed’s visit to the sick Companion

★ The gardener who separated three friends in order to chastise them singly

★ Báyazíd and the Shaykh who said, “I am the Ka’ba”

★ The novice who built a new house

★ Dalqak and the Sayyid-i Ajall

★ The Saint who rode a cock-horse

★ The dog and the blind mendicant

★ The Police Inspector and the drunken man

★ Iblís and Mu’áwiya

★ The Cadi who wept whilst he was being installed

★ The bitter grief of a man who missed the congregational prayers

★ The thief who escaped because his accomplice gave a false alarm

★ The Hypocrites and the Mosque of Opposition

★ The true believer’s stray camel

★ The four Indians who lost their prayers

★ The Ghuzz Turcomans and the two villagers

★ The self-conceit and ingratitude shown by the worldly towards the prophets and saints

★ The old man who complained to the doctor

★ Júhí and the child

★ The boy who was afraid of an effeminate man

★ The archer and the horseman

★ The Arab of the desert and the philosopher

★ The miracles of Ibráhim son of Adham

★ The beginning of the gnostic’s illumination

★ The stranger who reviled the Shaykh

★ The man who declared that God would not punish his sins, and Shu’ayb’s answer to him

★ The answer of the Prophet to ‘A’isha, who said that he performed the ritual prayer in unclean places

★ The mouse and the camel

★ The miracles of a dervish who was accused of theft

★ The garrulous, greedy, and somnolent Súfí, and his reply to the Shaykh who enjoined him to observe moderation

★ The nature of intuitive knowledge

★ John the Baptist and Jesus

★ Mute eloquence

★ The search for the Tree of Life

★ How four persons quarrelled about grapes, which were known to each of them by a different name

★ How Mohammed established unity amongst the Ansár

★ Solomon and the birds

★ The ducklings that were fostered by a hen

★ The miracles wrought by an ascetic in the desert

Book III

★ Preface (in prose)

★ Proem

★ The Travellers who ate the young Elephant

★ Bilál’s mispronunciation in chanting the call to prayer

★ Moses instructed by God how he should pray

★ The response to sincere prayer

★ The Countryman and the Townsman

★ The people of Sabá and the Prophets

★ How Jesus came forth from his cell and healed the sick

★ The Falcon and the Ducks

★ The people of Zarwán

★ Majnún and Laylá’s dog

★ The Jackal that fell into the dyeing-vat and pretended to be a Peacock

★ The Braggart who pretended that he had dined well

★ Bal’am the son of Bá’úr

★ “And thou wilt surely know them in the perversion of their speech”

★ Hárút and Márút

★ Pharaoh’s dream of the coming of Moses

★ The Mughal and the Egyptians

★ The conception and birth of Moses

★ The Snake-catcher and the frozen Snake

★ Pharaoh and Moses

★ The two Magicians who summoned their father from the grave

★ Comparison of the ''Qur’án'' to the rod of Moses

★ The Elephant in the dark house

★ Noah and Canaan

★ Infidelity and Predestination

★ The Barber and the Man with grizzled hair

★ The answer of Zayd to his assailant

★ The Companions of the Prophet and the ''Qur’án''

★ The Lover who read a love-letter in the presence of his Beloved

★ The Poor Man who prayed that he might gain a lawful livelihood without work

★ Knowledge and Opinion

★ The Teacher who fancied he was ill

★ The Dervish who broke his vow

★ The far-seeing Goldsmith

★ The Magicians whom Pharaoh threatened to punish

★ The complaint of the Mule to the Camel

★ The Ass of ‘Uzayr

★ The Shaykh who showed no grief at the death of his sons

★ The Blind Man who regained his sight when he read the ''Qur’án''

★ The patience of Luqmán

★ Buhlúl and the Dervish

★ The Visions and Miracles of Daqúqi

★ Moses and Khizr

★ The flight of Jesus from the Fool

★ The Children’s Tale of the Three Worldlings

★ The Hares and the Elephant

★ Noah and the building of the Ark

★ The Thief who said he was beating a Drum

★ The meaning of Prudence

★ The Vow made by the Dogs every winter

★ The Divine Providence manifested in the creation of Hell

★ Kings compared to the Báb-i Saghír at Jerusalem

★ The Súfí who fell into ecstasy on seeing an empty food-wallet

★ Jacob’s love for Joseph

★ The Amir and the Slave who took delight in the ritual Prayer

★ The Faith of the Worldly

★ Hidden Saints

★ Anas and the Prophet’s napkin

★ How the Prophet saved a caravan of Arabs from death in the Desert

★ Miracles wrought by the Prophet on the same occasion

★ Need and distress call forth the Bounty of God

★ The Babe that bore witness to the Prophet

★ The Eagle that carried off the Prophet’s boot

★ The Man who asked Moses to teach him the language of Beasts and Birds

★ The Woman whose twenty children all died in infancy

★ Why Hamza in his old age refused to protect himself with a coat of mail

★ The advantages of Deliberation

★ The death of Bilál

★ The World and the Body

★ Statute and Analogy

★ The reverence due to the Shaykhs from their disciples

★ Conventional and intuitive knowledge

★ Faná and Baqá

★ The Wakíl of Bukhárá and his Master

★ The appearance of the Holy Spirit in human shape to Mary, the Mother of Jesus

★ The most beautiful City

★ The Lover in the haunted Mosque

★ The worldliness of Galen

★ How Satan deceived the Quraysh

★ The Boy who beat a tomtom in order to scare a Camel on which they were beating a drum

★ Comparison of the true Believer suffering tribulation to peas being boiled in a pot

★ The Mathnawí and its critics

★ The outer and inner sense of the ''Qur’án''

★ Why the Saints take refuge in mountains and caves

★ How the mountains joined in the song of David

★ The Foal that would not drink

★ The cry of the Devil

★ How each element in the Body is drawn to its original source, and the Soul likewise

★ The Prophet and the Captives

★ The Gnat and the Wind in the presence of Solomon

★ The perfidious Lover

Book IV

★ Preface (in prose)

★ Proem

★ The perfidious Lover (continued)

★ The Preacher who prayed for the wicked

★ The answer of Jesus to the question, “What is the hardest thing to bear?”

★ The Súfí who caught his wife with a strange man

★ The Names of God

★ Comparison of the World to a bath-stove

★ The Tanner who fainted on smelling otto and musk

★ The Jew who tempted ‘Alí

★ The building of the Farther Mosque (the Temple of Solomon)

★ “The Faithful are naught but brothers”

★ The unspoken Sermon of the Caliph ‘Uthmán

★ Man the Macrocosm

★ Comparison of the Prophet and the Moslem saints to the Ark of Noah

★ Solomon and Bilqís

★ The Miracles of Shaykh ‘Abdullah Maghribí

★ The Druggist and the Clay-eater

★ The Dervish and the Carrier of firewood

★ Ibráhím ibn Adham and his abandonment of his Kingdom

★ The thirsty man who, climbed a walnut-tree and dropped walnuts into the water

★ Halíma and the infant Mohammed

★ The Worldly and the Spiritual

★ The Poet and the two Viziers

★ Pharaoh and Hámán

★ The Demon who sat on the throne of Solomon

★ How Cain learned the grave-digger’s trade

★ The Súfi who contemplated the beauty of the Garden in his own heart

★ Worldly knowledge and power a dangerous weapon in the hands of the wicked

★ “O thou that wrappest thyself”

★ The Slave whose allowance was reduced

★ Man half angel and half beast

★ Majnún and his she-camel

★ The Divine and the Thief who stole his turban

★ The World’s enticement and warning

★ The food of the Saints

★ Death the touchstone of pretension

★ The hypocritical Encomiast

★ The divine Physicians

★ How Abd Yazíd (Báyazíd) Bistámí predicted the birth of Abu‘l-Hasan Kharraqáni

★ How the wind blew perversely against Solomon

★ Abu’l-Hasan at the tomb of Abú Yazíd

★ The Man who took counsel with his enemy

★ The Prophet’s appointment of a Young Man of Hudhayl to command the army

★ The Ecstasy of Báyazíd

★ The wise, the half-wise, and the foolish

★ The Three Fishes

★ The ablutionary Prayers

★ The Man who failed to profit by the wise counsels of a Bird

★ Moses and Pharaoh as types of Reason and Imagination

★ The spiritual vision in which all the senses become one

★ Moses and Pharaoh

★ The World’s assault on the Unseen

★ The Purification of the Heart

★ “I was a Hidden Treasure”

★ “Speak ye unto men according to the measure of their understandings

★ The Prophet’s promise of Paradise to ‘Ukkásha

★ The royal Falcon and the Old Woman

★ ‘Alí’s advice to the Mother whose child was in danger of falling from the top of the water-spout

★ Like attracts like

★ The Prophet and the Arab Chiefs

★ Paradise and Hell are the effects of Divine Mercy and Wrath

★ The Argument between the Atheist and the Mystic

★ The Purpose of Creation

★ Why Moses was loved by God

★ The King and his Boon-companion and the Courtier who acted as intercessor

★ Abraham rejects the proffered help of Gabriel

★ The mystery of Life and Death

★ Body and Spirit

★ The Prince and the Witch of Kabúl

★ The Ascetic who laughed while the people were dying of hunger

★ Live in harmony with Universal Reason

★ The Sons of ‘Uzayr

★ “Verily, I ask pardon of God seventy times every day”

★ The weakness of the discursive Reason

★ Submission to the Saints

★ The Mule and the Camel

★ The Egyptian and the Israelite

★ The Pear-tree of Illusion

★ The spiritual Evolution of Man

★ Divine immanence in Creation

★ Dhu’l-Qarnayn and Mount Qáf

★ The Ant that saw the pen writing

★ The Prophet’s vision of Gabriel in his real form

Book V

★ Preface (in prose)

★ Proem

★ Parable of the Four Birds

★ Description of the Duck

★ The Prophet and the Greedy Infidel

★ The Light which is the Food of the Spirit

★ Description of the Peacock

★ Diversity of Intelligences

★ The Arab of the Desert and his Dog

★ The Sage and the Peacock

★ “No monkery in Islam”

★ Description of the Crow

★ The Gazelle in the Donkey-stable

★ Muammad Khwárizmsháh and the people of Sabzawár

★ Description of the Cock

★ “The Lowest of the Low”

★ The two Worlds

★ The value of Works

★ “And He is with you”

★ The Man who claimed to be a Prophet

★ The Devoted Lover

★ The Disciple who imitated the Shaykh

★ The Maidservant and the Ass

★ Parable of the Parrot which is taught to speak by seeing its image in a mirror

★ The Puppies that barked before they were born

★ The People of Zarwán

★ The Creation of Adam

★ The illusion of causes

★ Death and Resurrection

★ The infinite mercy of God

★ The Story of Ayáz

★ Laylá and Majnún

★ The Ascetic and his jealous Wife

★ The repentance of Nasúh

★ The Fox and the Ass

★ The Ass that envied the Arab horses

★ The Ascetic who made trial of his trust in God

★ Parable of the Camel

★ The effeminate Youth

★ The Man who was afraid of being taken for an Ass

★ Shaykh Muhammad Sar-razí of Ghazna

★ The Disciple in dreadof hunger

★ The Cow in the green Island

★ The Christian ascetic who went about with a lamp in the day-time

★ Debate between a Moslem and a Magian on the subject of free-will

★ The Dervish who reproached God

★ The beauty of Laylá

★ A story of Júhí

★ The Infidel and Báyazíd

★ The Muezzin with the harsh voice

★ The Cat and the Meat

★ The Amír and the Ascetic

★ Ziyá-yi Dalq and his Brother

★ Dalqak’s game of Chess with the Sháh of Tirmid

★ The Prophet on Mount Hirá

★ The World that is living, speaking, and hearing

★ The Guest who took offence and departed

★ A Father’s advice to his married Daughter

★ The cowardly Súfí

★ ‘Iyádí and the Greater Warfare

★ The Man who tormented his Carnal Soul

★ The Caliph and the Captain

★ The Magicians of Pharaoh

Book VI

★ Preface (in prose)

★ Proem

★ The Bird on the City-wall

★ The temptation of Free-will

★ The Hindu Slave and his Master’s daughter

★ The Thief who put out the light

★ The Story of Ayáz (''continued'')

★ The Fowler and the Bird

★ The Man whose Ram was stolen

★ The Watchman who cried out after the Robbers had gone

★ The Lover who fell asleep

★ The Turkish Amír and the Minstrel

★ ‘A’isha and the Blind Man

★ “Die before ye die”

★ A Poet’s rebuke to the Shí’ites of Aleppo

★ Parable of the Ant

★ The Man who gave the drum-call for breakfast at midnight

★ The Story of Bilál

★ The Story of Hilál

★ The Horse that went backward

★ Mohammed and Jesus

★ The ugly old Hag who wanted a Husband

★ The Dervish and the Man of Gílán

★ The Beggar and the House where nothing could be got

★ The Man who was desperately ill, and the Story of the Súfi and the Cadi

★ Sultan Mahmud and the Hindú Boy

★ The Turk and the Tailor

★ The Fakir and the Hidden Treasure

★ Shaykh Abu ‘l-Hasan Kharraqáni and his Disciple

★ Man the vicegerent of God

★ The Three Travellers and the sweetmeat

★ The Camel, the Ox, and the Ram

★ Dalqak and the King of Tirmid

★ The Mouse and the Frog

★ Sultan Mahmúd and the Night-thieves

★ The Sea-cow and the Pearl

★ ‘Abdu ‘l-Ghawth and the Peris

★ The insolvent Dervish and the Police Inspector of Tabríz

★ Ja’far-i Tayyár’s irresistible attack on a fortress

★ Parable of the man who sees double

★ The Khwárizmsháh and the beautiful Horse

★ The imprisonment of Joseph

★ The Three Princes who fell in love with the portrait of the Princess of China

★ The Sadr-i Jahán of Bukhárá and the Jurist

★ Story of two Brothers

★ The King who forced a learned Doctor to drink wine with him

★ Imra’u ‘l-Qays and the King of Tabúk

★ The Man who dreamed of a Hidden Treasure

★ The Cadi and the Wife of Júhí

★ The Prophet and ‘Alí

★ Hell and the true Believer

★ The Story of Nimrod

★ The miracles of Shaybán Rá’í

★ The Man who left his property to the laziest of his three Sons

★ Parable of the Child and the Bogle

References

★ ''The Mathnawí of Jalálu'ddín Rúmí'', edited from the oldest manuscripts available, with critical notes, translation and commentary by Reynold A. Nicholson, in 8 volumes, London: Messrs Luzac & Co., 1925-1940. Contains the text in persian. First complete English translation of the ''Mathnawí''.