The Masnavi-I Ma’navi or Masnavi by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi is one of the best known and most influential works of both Sufism and Persian literature. The Masnavi is a series of six books of poetry that amount to about 25,000 verses or 50,000 lines. The six books of the Masnavi can be divided into three groups of two because each pair is linked by a common theme. Books 1 and 2 are principally concerned with the nafs, the lower carnal self, and its self-deception and evil tendencies. Books 3 and 4 share the principal themes of Reason and Knowledge. Books 5 and 6 are joined by the universal ideal that man must deny his physical earthly existence to understand God’s existence. It is a spiritual writing that teaches Sufis how to reach their goal of being in true love with God.