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 IN THE NAME OF GOD THE COMPASSIONATE, THE MERCIFUL.

This is the Book of the Mathnawi, which is the roots of the roots of the roots of the (Mohammedan) Religion in respect of (its) unveiling the mysteries of attainment (to the Truth) and of certainty; and which is the greatest science of God and the clearest (religious) way of God and the most manifest evidence of God.

The likeness of the light thereof is as a niche in which is a candle shining with a radiance brighter than the dawn. It is the heart’s Paradise, having fountains and boughs, one of them a fountain called Salsabil amongst the travellers on this Path; and in the view of the possessors of (mystical) stations and (Divine) graces, it (the Mathnawi) is best as a station and most excellent as a (spiritual) resting-place. Therein the righteous eat and drink, and thereby the (spiritually) free are gladdened and rejoiced; and like the Nile of Egypt it is a (pleasant) drink to them that endure patiently, but a grief to the people of Pharaoh and the unbelievers, even as God hath said, He lets many be misled thereby and He lets many be guided thereby. It is the cure for (sick) breasts, and the purge of sorrows, and the expounder of the Qur’an, and the (source of) abundance of (Divine) gifts, and the (means of) cleansing (sordid) dispositions ; (written) by the hands of noble righteous scribes who forbid (with the words) ''None shall touch it except the purified. Falsehood doth not approach it either from before or behind, since God observes it and watches over it, and He is the best guardian and He is the most merciful of them that show mercy'', And it hath other titles of honour which God hath bestowed upon it.

We have confined ourselves to this little (that has been mentioned), for the little is an index to the much, and a mouthful of water) is an index to the (quality of the) pool and a handful (of wheat) is an index to (serves as a sample of the contents of) a great threshing-floor (granary).

Saith the feeble slave who hath need of the mercy of God most High, Muhammad son of Muhammad son of al-Husayn of (the city of) Balkh—may God accept (this offering) from him: “I have exerted myself to give length to the Poem in Rhymed Couplets, which comprises strange tales and rare sayings and excellent discourses and precious indications, and the (religious) path of the ascetics and the (spiritual) garden of the devotees—(all this being) brief in expression but manifold in — at the request of my master and stay and support, (who holds) the place of the spirit in my body, and (who is) the treasure of