Also from the Masnavi: The women who discovered her maidservant having improper relations with an ass. She then tries to imitate with disastrous consequences.
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Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi : Masnavi-I Ma’navi (Rhyming Couplets of Profound Spiritual Meaning) (1263-73) Iran
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Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi (1207 – 1273), was a poet, Hanafi faqih, Islamic scholar, Maturidi theologian, and Sufi mystic originally from Greater Khorasan in Greater Iran. His Masnavi (Mathnawi), composed in Konya, is considered one of the greatest poems of the Persian language. He uses the words Zangi and Zanzibar in his poems with meanings as the opposite of Rum (meaning white and black); or the furthest place south; the most ugly.
Taken from: Minoo Southgate: The negative Images of Blacks In some Medieval Iranian Writings. In : Iranian studies 1984
and also; www.dar-al-masnavi.org
Mawlana is his nick name (our master) officially: Jelal Ad-din Muhammad Balkhi.
others call him : Mowlana Jalaluddin Rumi
He who has never known enlightenment, is content to live in his state of error. Like a Zangi who, in his blackness is pleased (with himself) for he has (always) been a negro by birth and
nature, but he that even for a day is beloved and beautiful, if he becomes black, will seek to repair the misfortune.
The negro… is happy and pleased, he does not see his face, (though) others see it.
It is better to put a sword in the hand of an intoxicated negro then that knowledge should come in the possession of a worthless person.
One of his poems has the following verse:
So that you may see the image of heart-attracting (beloveds),
(and) so that you may see the colors of the tulip garden.
From this reflection, earth and water became colored (and) life
rained upon Turks and (those from) Zanzibar ("Zang-bar")
Note: for him the north of the Muslim world were the Turks, the south Zanzibar.
Taken from: http://sologak1.blogspot.be/p/a-quick-journey-into-realms-of-rumi.html
Who is an Anatolian Turk?
Who is a Persian Balkhi?
Who is a black Zangi?
Who is a white Rumi?
Where did I come from?
Where did all this poetry come from?
Taken from: http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3002
I am neither Roman (Rumi) nor Turk, neither Persian nor Arab (Tazi), neither Indian (Hindu) nor African (Zangi) but I'm a lover!
My father is love, my prophet is Love, my God is Love, I am a child of Love, I have come only to speak of Love.
Taken from: Mystical Poems of Rumi By Jalal al-Din Rumi
In his hand earth is as wax, he makes it Zangi and Rumi, he makes it falcon and owl, he makes it sugar and poison
After being routed, the Rumi of day having found the
Strength has dragged the Zangi of night from the royal throne.
Now I am Turk, now Hindu, now Rumi, now Zangi; it is of
Your engraving, my soul, that I believe or disbelieve.
Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi : Diwan-i Shams-i Tabrizi
(The Works of Shams of Tabriz).
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Taken from: کلیات شمس تبریزی by مولوی، جلال الدین محمد بن محمد ganjoor.net
P960
And Zanzibar where blood is used as flour
Enjoy the army of the Roman Caesar
P1095
Soil and water on the colours of the picture
Live has its time to the Turkish and in Zanzibar
Taken from: A dictionary of Oriental quotations by Claud Field
The world without that king is like a headless body ;
Fold yourself turban-wise, round such a head.
Unless you are a Zangi, do not let the mirror go from your hand
The soul is your mirror,
while the body is zangi (=rust). (1)
(1) This racist story is present in many versions: Shah Mardan Ibn Abi al-Khayr (11th); Hakim Sana’i (1131); Mawlana Jalal al-Din Rumi(1273); Khajavi Kermani (1352); Nur ad-Din Abd ar-Rahman Jami (1485).
Note: as to the poetry; see my note on the use in poetry of the word Zanj.