The Masnavi (Mesnevi)

...should extract meaning from it. If this deeper sense did not lie beneath the often coarsely material words and the frequently childlike, naive stories, then the educated person among the believers of his holy book would almost have to be ashamed. Thus, Philo of Alexandria A Hellenistic Jewish philosopher (c. 20 BCE – 50 CE) who used allegorical methods to harmonize the Torah with Greek philosophy. had already sought to reconcile the Old Testament with Greek science through allegorical interpretations; from him, this same tendency flows in three streams through the Kabbalah original: "Kabala" of Judaism, through the Scholasticism Scholasticism; a method of critical thought used by medieval Christian theologians to harmonize faith with reason of Christianity, and through the Mysticism of Islam. In this way, Sufism Sufism; the inward, mystical dimension of Islam rescues the Quran.

It is similar with the Masnavi original: Mesnevi. This work also faced—indeed, even during the poet's lifetime—sharp criticism. It was claimed that the work lacked a proper method, a secure path by which the disciple is led step by step, yet faster than by any previously known way, toward the salvation of the soul. Jalal al-Din original: Dschelāl ed dīn himself experienced this criticism of his life’s work and responded to it in the fourth book of the Masnavi, pointing to the Quran and its deeper interpretations. This passage is so characteristic of both the conception of the Quran and the Masnavi that I wish to reproduce it here in an unabridged translation.

Before the story reaches its conclusion,
The stinking river of envy pours out its confusion!
Though no harm is done to me by this attack,
It easily leads the pious from the proper track.
How beautifully Sanai 5. A predecessor of Jalal al-Din. taught us this lesson,
When explaining the Quran’s deeper expression:
"It does not surprise me that those who walk in the dark,
See in the Quran only the word's literal mark.
The blind man, too, feels from the sun's bright face
Only the warmth, but cannot see its radiant grace."

5. A predecessor of Jalal al-Din.