Page 74 - Is Rumism a Threat ?

72 Is Rumism A Threat?

4. Juhi, the hero of Masnavi, disguised in female clothes,

made a woman touch his sexual organ in the bathhouse

There was a preacher, very fine in his exposition, under whose
pulpit a great number of men and women were assembled. Júhí
went (to hear him): he got a chádar and veil and entered
amongst the women without (his sex) being recognized. Some
one asked the preacher secretly: "Are pubic hairs a deficiency in
(doing) the ritual prayer? (salat)? The preacher said: When the

pubic hair becomes long, there is (legal) dislike of it in the ritual
prayer. Scrape (it off) with a depilatory (of time) or a razor, in
order that your ritual prayer may be perfect and excellent and
seemly."

The questioner said: "To what limit is the length stipulated, so
that my ritual prayer is deficient?" He replied, "When it becomes
the size of a barley seed in length, then shaving is a (religious)
requirement, o (excessive) questioner." At once, Juhi said (to

the woman beside him) "O sister, find out (if) my pubic hair has
become (a length) such as this. In order to satisfy (the require-
ment of) God, bring forth (your) hand (to determine) whether it
has reached to the disliked amount." The woman put (her) hand
into the man's trousers: his penis contacted the woman's hand.

Thereupon the woman gave a loud scream: the preacher said,

"My discourse has smitten her heart." He (Júhí) answered, "No,
it did not smite (her) heart, it smote (her) hand. O (what) if it
had smitten (her) heart, O very wise (man)!"

(The Mathnawi of Jalau'ddin Rumi, Translation and Commentary by Reynold
A. Nicholson, Books V&VI, Couplets 3325-3330, pp.272-273)