“جهل” in the Masnavi

He said: 'Whatever remedy the physicians have administered has brought no cure at all, but only ruin.'

They were utterly unaware of her inner state; I seek refuge in God from what they falsely claimed.

For instance, if someone sticks a thorn under a donkey's tail, the donkey does not know how to remove it and suddenly leaps up.

The donkey jumps up and down, and this only drives the thorn in more firmly and deeper; a wise one is needed to pull the thorn out.

To get rid of the thorn, the donkey, in burning pain, kept kicking wildly and wounded itself in a hundred places.