Masnavi I, 3052-3100
Mathnawi I: 3052-3067, 3077-3080, 3099-3100
(Regarding the verse), "Everything will perish except His Face,"1 don't seek existence if you are not within His Face.2 Whoever is annihilated3 within My Face,4 is not recompensed5 by (the verse) "Everything will perish." (This is) because he is in (the condition of) "except (Him)," (and so) he has passed beyond "not (any divinity)."6 Whoever is in "except (Him)" has not perished [from true Existence]. Whoever is saying "I" and "we" at the door is rejected at the door7 and is (still) involved in [the illusion of] "not (any divinity)."
The story of the person who knocked on the door of a friend. (The friend) said from within, "Who is that?" He answered, "It's me."8 The friend said, "Since you are you, I will never open the door. I don't know anyone among (my) friends who is "me," (so) go (away)!"
Someone came (and) knocked on the door of a friend. His friend
said, "Who are you, O trustworthy one?"
He answered, "Me." (The friend) said, "Go (away), it's not the
(right) time. At such a table as this9 there is no place for the raw."10
What can cook the raw one, except the fire of separation. What
(else) can free him from hypocrisy?
That poor miserable man left and traveled for a year. He burned
from sparks [of painful longing] in separation from (his) friend.
That burned one became "cooked," (and) then returned. He went
back to the house of (his former) companion.
(Using) the door-ring, he knocked at the door with a hundred
worries and courtesies [in mind], so that no rude words might spring
forth from (his) lips.
His friend called out, "Who is that at the door?" He answered,
"Only you11 are at the door, O seizer of hearts!"12
(The friend) said, "Now, since you are me, O me, come in,
(since) there's no room for two 'me's' in the house.
"The two ends of the thread are not (suitable) for the needle. (So),
if you are a single strand,13 come into the needle."
(Only) the thread becomes connected with the needle; the eye of
the needle is not appropriate for a camel.14
The camel's existence can never become thin except by (means of)
the shears of strict exercises15 and work.
(But) for that, O so-and-so, the Power of God is needed-- since it
is the "Be! And it was"16 for every (apparently) impossible (situation).
. . . . . . . . .
The friend told him, "Come in, O (you who are) entirely me,
(and) not contrary like the rose and thorn of the garden."
(Since) the thread has become single, don't go into error now if
you see the letters "B" and "E" [of the word "Be!"]17 as two-fold.
(The letters) "B" and "E" are pulling, like a lasso, in order to
draw the non-existent18 into important matters [in the world of existence].
Therefore, the lasso must be two-fold in (the world) of forms,
although those two (strands) are (actually) single in effect.
. . . . . . . . .
Know that the world of Unity is beyond the side (known to) the
senses. (So) if you want Unity, ride toward that (other) side.
The (Divine) Command of "Be!" was a single act. And (although
the letters) "B" and "E" occurred in words, the meaning is pure and
unmixed.
From "The Mathnawî-yé Ma`nawî" [Rhymed Couplets of
Deep Spiritual Meaning] of Jalaluddin Rumi.
Translated from the Persian by Ibrahim Gamard (with gratitude
for R.A. Nicholson's 1930 British translation)
Footnotes courtesy of Ibrahim Gamard
1His Face: from a verse in the Qur'ân, altered for metrical purposes in a mixture of the original Arabic words and Persian translation. "And do not invoke (in prayer) another god besides (the One True) God. There is not (any) divinity except Him [lâ ilâha illâ huwa]. Everything will perish except His Face [kullu shay-in hâlik-un illâ wajha-hu]. With Him is the Judgment, and to Him (all of) you will be returned." (28:88) Muhammad Asad's translation reads, "Everything is bound to perish, save His [eternal] Self." Asad explained that in classical Arabic, the word "face" can mean "the 'self' or 'whole being' of a person-- in this case, the essential Being, or Reality, of God." Nicholson made a similar interpretation that "Face" in Rumi's verse here equals "Dhát," or the Divine Essence. (Commentary)
2 if you are not in His Face: "i.e. 'seek only the real and essential existence which God bestows on those who have abandoned their imaginary and phenomenal self-existence (hastí)'." (Nicholson, Commentary) For advanced sufis, "(separate) existence is a sin [khaTâ]"-- or a wrong, an error (Mathnawi I: 517; Nicholson's Commentary on this line includes a verse from the sufi master Junayd (died, 910): "When I say, 'What sin [dhanb] have I committed'? she says in reply,/ 'Your life/self-existence is a sin with which no sin can be compared'.")
3 annihilated [fanâ]: a technical term in sufism, meaning "mystical death" or passing away from the transient (such as one's thoughts, personality, and identity) and remaining in essential subsistence [baqâ] in God. These terms are based on the Qur'anic verse: "All that is upon (the earth) will pass away [fân-in], but the Face of your Lord will abide [yabqâ], full of Majesty and Glory." (55:26-27)
4 within My Face: "Here the poet speaks with the voice of God." (Nicholson, Commentary) Nicholson translated, "When any one has passed away (from himself) in my face (essence)..."
5 is not recompensed: Nicholson translated, "(the words) everything is perishing are not applicable (to him)."
6 "except (Him)" and "not (any divinity)": refer to the verse quoted above: "There is not (any) divinity except Him." "lá [= "not"] equals the self-existence which really is non-existence; illá [= "except"] equals real existence in God." (Nicholson, Commentary)
7 at the door Nicholson translated, "at the door (of the Divine Court)."
8 It's me: "This famous apologue may have been suggested, as the Turkish commentators believe by a Hadíth.... 'I came to the Prophet's door and knocked. He said, "Who is there?" I answered, "I". He said, "I", "I", as though he disliked it.'" (Nicholson, Commentary).
9 At such a table as this: means, "at such a mystical feast." The word translated as "table" means a cloth placed on the ground or floor, around which people ate their meals.
10 raw [khâm]: a technical sufi term which also means unripe, immature, inexperienced, unprepared, unrefined, uncooked, bearing no fruit. Means immature on the spiritual path, and is the opposite of "ripe" or "cooked" [pokhta]. Rumi has been quoted as saying, "The result of my life is no more than three words: I was raw [khâm], I became cooked [pokhta], I was burnt [sokht]." However, in the earliest manuscripts, this line is: "The result for me is no more than these three words: I am burnt, I am burnt, I am burnt." (Dîvân, ghazal 1768).
11 Only you: Nicholson comments, "According to the early sufi Sarí al-Saqatí [died, 867], there is no true love between two persons till each says to the other, 'yá ana,' 'O (thou who art) I.'" He also mentions ". . .the verse of Halláj [died 922], 'I beheld my Lord with the eye of my Lord. He said, "Who art thou?" I answered, 'Thou' " (Commentary)
12 seizer of hearts: an idiom meaning "beloved who has won the love of my heart."
13 a single strand: "The mystic becomes 'single' when he ceases to be conscious of himself as an alter ego besides God, who is the only real Ego." (Nicholson, Commentary)
14 camel: a reference to the verse, ". . . nor will they enter the Garden, until the camel can pass through the eye of the needle: such is Our reward for those in sin." (Qur'an 7:40)
15 strict exercises [riyâzât]: a technical sufi term for austere disciplines (usually assigned by a spiritual master) so that the disciple may become spiritually matured and "cooked." And here it means that the "camel" of ego and ego-centered cravings may become thin and thread-like.
16 Be and it was: a modification (for purposes of rhyme and meter) of the Qur'anic words (as in 19:35): "When He determines a matter, He only says to it, 'Be!' and it is [kun fa-yakûn]."
17 the letters "B" and "E" [of the word "Be!"]: In the text, the letters are "K" and "N" in the Arabic word "kun," which means "Be!." In the earliest Arabic of the Qur'an, only the consonants were written-- "kn"-- and the vowel "u" was not (but was added in latter copies as a mark above the consonant letters). "Although the Creative Word KuN consists of two letters, yet essentially it is one, and its effect, i.e. its bringing the whole contingent universe into being, is single; it may be compared to a noose which, though double in form, has but one meaning and object, namely, to draw the world, hidden in the knowledge of God, from potential into actual existence. Khutúb [= "important matters"-- translated by Nicholson as "great affairs"] refers to the great issues at stake in the life-experience of the soul." (Nicholson, Commentary)
18 the non-existent: in Islamic philosophy, the term "non-existent" here means something which has essential existence (in the "Mind of God," so to speak) in the world of non-existent essences. By means of the Divine Command, "Be!", such essences are manifested in the material world of existence.
Mathnawi I: 3056-3075
A certain man came and knocked at a friend’s door:
his friend asked him, “Who art thou, O trusty one?”
He answered,”I.”1 The friend said,” Begone,’tis not the time
(for thee to come in): at a table like this there is
no place for the raw.”
Save the fire of absence and separation, who (what) will cook
the raw one? Who (what) will deliver him from hypocrisy?
The wretched man went away, and for a year in travel (and)
in separation from his friend he was burned
with sparks of fire.
That burned one was cooked: then he returned and again
paced to and fro beside the house of his comrade.
He knocked at the door with a hundred fears and respects,
lest any disrespectful word might escape from his lips.
His friend called to him, “Who is at the door?” He answered,
“‘Tis thou2 art at the door, O charmer of hearts.”
“Now,” said the friend, “since thou art I, come in, O myself:
there is not room in the house for two I’s.
The double end of thread is not for the needle: inasmuch
as thou art single, come into this needle.”
‘Tis the thread that is connected with the needle: the eye of
the needle is not suitable for the camel3.
How should the existence (body) of the camel be fined
down save by the shears of ascetic exercises and works?
For that, O reader, the hand (power) of God is necessary,
for it is the Be, and it was4 (bringer into existence)
of every (seemingly) impossible thing.
By His hand every impossible thing is made possible;
by fear of Him every unruly one is made quiet.
What of the man blind from birth and the leper? Even
the dead is made living by the spell of the Almighty,
And that non-existence which is more dead than the dead-- is
compelled (helpless) in the hand of (under the power of)
His bringing (it) into existence5.
Recite (the text), Every day6 He is (engaged) in some affair:
do not deem Him idle and inactive.
His least act, every day, is that He despatches three armies:7
One army from the loins (of the fathers) towards the mothers,
in order that the plant may grow in the womb;
One army from the wombs to the Earth, that the world
may be filled with male and female;
One army from the Earth (to what is) beyond death, that
every one may behold the beauty of (good) works.
From The Mathnawi of Jalalu'ddin Rumi
Translation and Commentary by Reynold A. Nicholson
Published and Distributed by The Trustees of
The "E.J.W. Gibb Memorial"
1 He answered, "I": According to a Tradition (hadîth): "I came to the Prophet's door and knocked. He said, 'Who is there?' I answered, 'I'. He said, 'I', 'I', as though he disliked it." (Nicholson, Commentary).
2 'Tis thou: "According to the early sufi Sarí al-Saqatí [died, 867], there is no true love between two persons till each says to the other, 'yá ana,' 'O (thou who art) I.'" [And] ". . .the verse of Halláj [died 922], 'I beheld my Lord with the eye of my Lord. He said, "Who art thou?" I answered, 'Thou' " (Nicholson, Commentary)
3 not suitable for the camel: ". . . nor will they enter the Garden, until the camel can pass through the eye of the needle: such is Our reward for those in sin" (Qur'an 7:40)
4 Be and it was: a modification (for purposes of rhyme and meter) of the Quranic words (as in 19:35): "When He determines a matter, He only says to it, 'Be!' and it is."
5 into existence: this translation of the second half of the line was later offered by Nicholsone to conform with the earliest manuscript of the Mathnawi, a copy of which he obtained after translating Books I, II, and some of III.
6 "Every day He is (engaged) in some affair": Qur'an 55:29
7 armies: "Lashkar [armies] here is a translation of the Qur'ánic 'junúd' (48:4 ["For to God belong the Forces of the heavens andthe earth"], etc), i.e. the various kinds of created things which God uses as armies or auxiliaries for executing His purpose." (Nicholson, Commentary)
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