In Section 69 of Book Two of the Masnavi, during his prolonged debate with Mu'awiya, Iblis defends his actions by arguing that humans unfairly scapegoat him for their own moral failings. He asserts that the true source of sin and spiritual sickness is the individual's own base ego (*nafs*). 

Iblis uses the metaphor of a glutton eating sweetmeats (*halva*) who subsequently develops boils, emphasizing that negative consequences arise from one's own unchecked desires and internal flaws rather than solely from external demonic influence. This passage reflects a core Sufi teaching in Rumi's work: the external devil is secondary to the internal devil (the *nafs*), which must be the primary focus of the spiritual seeker's struggle and self-accountability.

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## Original content
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گفت هر مردی که باشد بد گمان 
نشنود او راست را با صد نشان
هر درونی که خیال‌اندیش شد 
چون دلیل آری خیالش بیش شد
چون سخن در وی رود علت شود 
تیغ غازی دزد را آلت شود
پس جواب او سکوتست و سکون 
هست با ابله سخن گفتن جنون
تو ز من با حق چه نالی ای سلیم 
تو بنال از شر آن نفس لئیم
تو خوری حلوا ترا دنبل شود 
تب بگیرد طبع تو مختل شود
بی گنه لعنت کنی ابلیس را 
چون نبینی از خود آن تلبیس را
نیست از ابلیس از تست ای غوی 
که چو روبه سوی دنبه می‌روی
چونک در سبزه ببینی دنبه‌ها 
دام باشد این ندانی تو چرا
زان ندانی کت ز دانش دور کرد 
میل دنبه چشم و عقلت کور کرد
حبک الاشیاء یعمیک یصم 
نفسک السودا جنت لا تختصم
تو گنه بر من منه کژ کژ مبین 
من ز بد بیزارم و از حرص و کین
من بدی کردم پشیمانم هنوز 
انتظارم تا دیم گردد تموز
متهم گشتم میان خلق من 
فعل خود بر من نهد هر مرد و زن
گرگ بیچاره اگرچه گرسنست 
متهم باشد که او در طنطنه‌ست
از ضعیفی چون نتواند راه رفت 
خلق گوید تخمه است از لوت زفت

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## English translation
He said: Any person who is suspicious will not listen to the truth, even with a hundred signs. Any inward self that has become given to imagining, when you bring proof, its imagining only increases. When speech enters it, it turns into a sickness or pretext; the warrior's sword becomes a tool for the thief. Therefore the answer to him is silence and stillness; speaking with a fool is madness. Why do you complain of me before God, O simple one? Complain of the evil of that vile lower self. You eat halva and it becomes a boil in you; fever seizes you and your temperament is disordered. You curse Iblis without cause, because you do not see that deception arising from yourself. It is not from Iblis; it is from you, O misguided one, since like a fox you go toward the sheep's fat-tail. When you see fat-tails in the grass, it is a trap; why do you not know this? You do not know because desire for the fat-tail has driven you far from knowledge; craving for the fat-tail has blinded your eye and intellect. Your love of things makes you blind and deaf; your dark lower self has committed the offense, so do not dispute. Do not lay your sin on me; do not look crookedly. I am disgusted with evil and with greed and rancor. I did evil, and I am still repentant; I am waiting until Dey, winter, becomes Tammuz, summer. I have become accused among the people; every man and woman lays their own deed on me. The poor wolf, though hungry, is suspected of being in luxury and fullness. When from weakness it cannot walk, people say: it has indigestion from a heavy meal.

دفتر دوم - بخش ۶۹ - باز تقریر ابلیس تلبیس خود را / Book Two - Section 69 - Iblis Again Recounting His Deceit

### Overview
In Book One, Section 37 of the *Masnavi*, Rumi introduces a central spiritual and psychological doctrine: the ego (*nafs*) as the 'mother of all idols' (*madar-e botha bot-e nafs-e shomast*).

### The Metaphor of the Snake and the Dragon
Rumi distinguishes between outer and inner idolatry using vivid animal metaphors:
1. **The Outer Idol (The Snake):** Physical idols made of stone or wood are visible obstacles. Rumi compares them to a snake, which can be crushed or avoided relatively easily.
2. **The Inner Ego (The Dragon):** The ego (*nafs*) is the source from which all external idols and desires spring. Rumi compares the ego to a massive dragon, representing an insatiable, multi-headed force of desire and self-worship.

### Spiritual Imperative
According to Rumi, physical iconoclasm is meaningless without inner spiritual warfare (*jihad al-nafs*). Breaking an outer idol is simple, but subduing the inner dragon of self-will requires divine grace, spiritual guidance, an...

The Ego (Nafs) as the Mother of All Idols in the Masnavi

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Ganjoor

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گفت غیر راستی نرهاندت 
داد سوی راستی می‌خواندت
راست گو تا وا رهی از چنگ من 
مکر ننشاند غبار جنگ من
گفت چون دانی دروغ و راست را 
ای خیال اندیش پر اندیشه‌ها
گفت پیغامبر نشانی داده است 
قلب و نیکو را محک بنهاده است
گفته است الکذب ریب فی القلوب 
گفت الصدق طمانین طروب
دل نیارامد ز گفتار دروغ 
آب و روغن هیچ نفروزد فروغ
در حدیث راست آرام دلست 
راستیها دانهٔ دام دلست
دل مگر رنجور باشد بد دهان 
که نداند چاشنی این و آن
چون شود از رنج و علت دل سلیم 
طعم کذب و راست را باشد علیم
حرص آدم چون سوی گندم فزود 
از دل آدم سلیمی را ربود
پس دروغ و عشوه‌ات را گوش کرد 
غره گشت و زهر قاتل نوش کرد
کزدم از گندم ندانست آن نفس 
می‌پرد تمییز از مست هوس
خلق مست آرزواند و هوا 
زان پذیرااند دستان ترا
هر که خود را از هوا خو باز کرد 
چشم خود را آشنای راز کرد

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## English translation
He said: Nothing but truthfulness will free you; justice calls you toward truthfulness. Speak truth, so that you may be released from my grasp; cunning will not settle the dust of my battle. He said: How do you know falsehood and truth, O fantasy-minded one, full of thoughts? He said: The Prophet has given a sign; he has set a touchstone for the counterfeit and the good. He said: 'Falsehood is unease in hearts'; he said: 'Truth is tranquil, joyful reassurance.' The heart finds no rest in lying speech; water and oil never kindle a flame. In truthful discourse there is rest for the heart; truths are the grain of the heart's snare. Unless the heart is sick and has a bad palate, so that it cannot know the taste of this and that. When the heart becomes sound from sickness and malady, it knows the taste of falsehood and truth. When Adam's greed increased toward the wheat, it robbed Adam's heart of soundness. Then he listened to your lie and blandishment; he was deceived and drank deadly poison. At that moment the self did not know scorpion from wheat; discernment flies away from one drunk with desire. People are drunk with cravings and passion; for that reason they accept your stratagems. Whoever has weaned himself from the habit of passion has made his eye acquainted with the secret.

دفتر دوم - بخش ۷۰ - باز الحاح کردن معاویه ابلیس را / Book Two - Section 70 - Mu'awiya Again Urging Iblis

Iblis's Defense: Blaming the Nafs over Iblis in the Masnavi

In Jalaluddin Rumi's *Masnavi*, the struggle against the internal ego (*nafs*) is explicitly characterized as the "greater jihad" (*jihad al-akbar*). Following a victory over external foes (the "lesser jihad"), Rumi warns that a far more dangerous adversary remains within. He metaphorically describes the *nafs* as a "dragon" and a manifestation of "hell"—an insatiable force that swallows entire worlds and constantly demands more, undiminished even by oceans. Rumi emphasizes that conquering this inward enemy cannot be achieved through mere intellect or human cunning. Instead, it requires divine intervention and profound spiritual discipline, as only God can truly "draw its bow." Thus, the ultimate spiritual battle for a seeker is not fought on physical battlefields, but in the arduous, continuous effort to overcome one's own carnal soul.

The Concept of the Greater Jihad and the Nafs in the Masnavi

In Book 3 of Jalaluddin Rumi's Masnavi, the narrative of Moses being cast into the Nile transitions into a profound psychological warning about the human ego (nafs). Rumi describes Pharaoh's futile stratagems to kill the infant Moses as a terrifying dragon, which is ultimately devoured by the divine counterpart of Moses's miraculous staff. However, Rumi quickly pivots from the historical narrative to address the reader directly, asserting that the same tyrannical qualities that consumed Pharaoh exist within every individual. He uses the metaphor of a dragon trapped in a pit to describe the latent potential for arrogance and evil in the human soul. The only difference between an ordinary person and the tyrant is circumstance: the ordinary person's inner fire simply lacks Pharaoh's 'firewood' (power, wealth, and opportunity). This powerful allegory illustrates the fundamental Sufi teaching that the carnal soul is inherently destructive and requires constant spiritual vigilance, lest it flare up when given the means.

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