Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

altmuslim

Home
Muslim
How (Not) to Feed Your Dragon – Rumi’s Advice in Ramadan

How (Not) to Feed Your Dragon – Rumi’s Advice in Ramadan

Last updated on: June 21, 2017 at 8:13 pm by Guest Contributor

How (Not) to Feed Your Dragon – Rumi’s Advice in Ramadan 2017-06-21T20:13:27-04:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Image source: Pixabay

This is Day 26 of the 2017 #30Days30Writers Ramadan series – June 21, 2017

By Anna Rohleder

In his poetic epic Mathnawi, Rumi tells the story of a snake catcher that has taken on new meaning for me this Ramadan. Hunting amid the ice and snow of the high mountains, the snake catcher chances upon a prize specimen.

The snake is big and fearsome-looking enough to be a dragon, although it seems harmless in the unmoving state the man finds it in. Imagining the money he can make by putting on a public exhibition of the monster, he ties up the dragon and takes it to Baghdad.

His showman’s instincts are soon proven right. Setting up his show at a busy intersection, the snake-catcher is soon thronged by curious onlookers. But, while his attention is focused on the crowd, he fails to notice something happening behind his back. In the heat of Baghdad, the frozen dragon is thawing out. And as it starts to uncoil itself, the dragon breaks its ropes. Roaring and thrashing, it attacks the spectators, killing hundreds of people.

The snake-catcher stands rooted to the spot as the disaster unfolds, asking himself, “What have I brought from the mountains and the desert?”

Rumi tells us:

The dragon is your sensual soul (nafs): How is it dead? It is (only) frozen by grief and lack of means.

The story has been resonating me with this year as I think about fasting as an opportunity to gain some distance from my habitual self and its desires. By denying the ego’s incessant demands for something new to eat, drink or be stimulated by at every moment, my ability to sustain attention and focus becomes much stronger.

I’ve noticed this in previous years, but the effect is always surprising. While I seem to need lots of tea and snacks at other times to be productive, for example, during Ramadan I am miraculously able to sit and work for hours – even when I’m short on sleep!

It helps me to see the way that the nafs (ego, soul) disperses my energy and depletes me through its scattered nature, always chasing a multiplicity of desires. By containing those desires through fasting, energy can be directed toward a conscious purpose. In the R.A. Nicholson translation of the Mathnawi, Rumi says:

That dragon, under stress of poverty, is a little worm; a gnat is made a falcon by power and riches.

Keep the dragon in the snow of separation; beware, do not carry it into the sun of Iraq.

One other detail that always strikes me about this story is how much the description of the dragon waking up resembles our present-day terror attacks. One minute, there’s a crowd of people gathered for some kind of public entertainment; the next moment, there’s a huge noise, followed by bodies lying on the ground. I think the resemblance is not coincidental.

Fasting is a literal renunciation of our most basic desire to eat, but it’s also symbolic of restraining other appetites as well. Feeding the ego with anger, delusion and self-regard is like building a bomb. But it does not necessarily have to take the form of an improvised explosive device that goes off in a distant country.

Such a bomb may also be a torrent of ugly words unleashed on one’s own friends or family, or a burst of anger that wreaks other kinds of destruction.

Rumi shows us how our inner world is reflected in the outer environment. When I read this story of the snake-catcher, I recall times in my life when I was overpowered by the tyrant ego, and a self-made disaster ensued.

Rumi concludes the story by reminding us of how difficult it is to tame the wily nafs. He says: “It needs a Moses to kill the dragon.” For me, this not only underscores the importance of fasting and other practices that strengthen one’s personal will, but also of making a conscious connection to the prophets as inner archetypes of embodying the Divine Will.

Moses, as a prophet, represents the opposite human experience of the snake-catcher. His staff turns into a snake when he throws it down at the Divine command. Then Allah tells him: “Get hold of it and do not fear. We shall restore it to its former state.” By obeying the dictates of a higher consciousness, Moses is able to channel the energies of the human body in service to the Divine and bring the will of heaven onto earth.

In that way, the serpent of desire can become the staff of guidance within each human being.

Anna Rohleder is a writer, editor and translator seeking shifts in perspective that lead to insight. at large in the world. She blogs at The Living Tradition on Patheos Muslim.

30 Days 30 Writers 2017

Previous Post

June 21, 2017

Acts of Charity, How LaunchGood Campaigns Happen and Why it All Matters

Next Post

June 22, 2017 Healing Myself Through the Quran

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 2012 Elections 30 Dayd 30 Writers (2017) 30 Days 30 Writers 30 Days 30 Writers (2015) 30 Days 30 Writers (2016) 30 Days 30 Writers (2018) 30 Days 30 Writers 2017 Ali Asadullah Ali Eteraz Alper Bilgili Arthur Richards Asides Asma Uddin Black History Month Briefings Charles Turner Commentary Cyrus McGoldrick Eman H Aly Fatimah Popal Hajj Hajj and Dhul Hijjah Hesham Hassaballa Hisham Hellyer Ibrahim Abusharif Inas Younis Irfan Yusuf Jalal Baig Junaid Afeef Laila Alawa Laila Alwala Mas'ood Cajee Muqtedar Khan Nakia Jackson Newsmakers Parvez Ahmed Podcasts Rabia Chaudry Rafia Zakaria Ramadan Reviews Safiyyah Ally Saud Inam Shahed Amanullah Svend White The Opinionated Oncologist Visions Wajahat Ali Zahed Amanullah Zahir Janmohamed Zainab Khan

Select a Month November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: Esther became queen through a beauty contest.

Select your answer to see how you score.

FALSE TRUE