authenticity of quote query

[iljas]

Salaam,

"My dear heart, never think you are better than others. Listen to
their sorrows with compassion. If you want peace, don't harbor bad
thoughts, do not gossip,, and don't teach what you do not know."

I came across this on a web site the other day. I really like it. Is
it authentic?

Iljas

[Ibrahim]

Dear Iljas,
Salâm,

This is based on an authentic quatrain by Mawlana, made into a
"version" by Azima Melita Kolin, based on a translation from Persian
by Maryam Mafi ("Rumi: Hidden Music", 2001, p. 200). It appears on
some webpages with an added title, "Compassion".

One problem is that Mafi used an inferior edition of the quatrains
(what I have called the "pseudo-Faruzanfar edition"), which has two
cases of different wording: (1) in line two: "Go be a balm for a wound
[marham-e rîsh]" instead of a "balm of kindness [luTf]", as the
edition based on the earliest manuscripts has. And (2) in line four:
"Do not be one who speaks evil, teaches evil [bad âmûz]..." instead of
"associates with evil [bad âmîz]". Although Foruzanfar listed "bad
âmûz" as a variant, it occurs in the most recent of the early
manuscripts he used, not the earliest ones.

I said to my heart, 'Don't be better than others.
Go (and) be a balm of kindness; don't be (one) resembling a sting.
(If) you want nothing evil to reach you from anyone,
Don't be one who speaks evil, associates with evil, and thinks evil.
--Mawlana's quatrain no, 993, translated by Ibrahim Gamard and Ravan
Farhadi, "The Quatrains of Rumi," 2008, p. 114
*first line: literally, "Don't be more than others".

Am guessing that you liked the version, in part, because of the
fabricated "Rumi wisdom": "Don't teach what you don't know".

This is a good example of the problems with authenticity in
translations of Mawlana's poetry: (1) over the centuries, scribes have
made numerous "improvements" such as by substituting words and adding
fabricated verses; (2) in recent decades, Western authors have teamed
up with Iranian partners who provide them with literal translations,
which such authors interpret and re-English as they please, and these
are published as "translations"--which then appear on the Internet as
"Rumi verses".

Ibrahim

----------------

[Iljas Baker]

Salaam and thanks Ibrahim. Yes you guessed right, I did like the fabricated Rumi wisdom.Iljas

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