A window to Mathnavi Maulvi Ma’nvi
Translation and Commentary Seema Arif
Further Links for Rumi
- Dar ul Masnavi
- Diwan-i-Shams
- Fi hi Mah Fi (Discourses)
- Whinfield on Rumi
- Raza Rumi
- Khamush
- Poetseers
- The Republic of Rumi
- My papers on Rumi
- Life and Works of Rumi
(1) Love is the astrolabe, meaning only Love can “measure ” and understand the depths of Divine mysteries– not the intellectual reason. The astrolabe is an ancient astronomical device, “an instrument for measuring the altitude of the stars and solving the problems of spherical astronomy.” (Nicholson’s Commentary)
(2) Being a lover eventually guides us to the Source of Love, God, the Only Beloved. Love, whether its immediate object is Divine or human, real or phenomenal, leads ultimately to knowledge of God and union with Him. All earthly beauty is but
the reflection of Heavenly Beauty, and as the reflection fades away, we turn our eyes towards the Light whence it came.” (Nicholson’s Commentary)
(3) The meaning of Love (expressed) without the tongue is (much) clearer”: “i.e. the signs of Love, such as agitation, pallor, and tears, speak for themselves. Cf. the saying, (lisánu ‘l-hál antaqu min lisáni ‘l-maqál), ‘the tongue of inward feeling is more eloquent than the tongue of discourse.'” Illumination is a state in which everything is self-obvious, because it has sufficient Light reflecting from it. More than physical symptoms of Love, Rumi says that Love is more obvious from the attention and care one bestows and sacrifices one makes for one’s beloved. Actions speak louder than tongue.
(4) Reason has much to do with material obvious things, which it can explain well. It has no reach to the spiritual realm and principles governing it. So, it is powerless and helpless in such matters. This is a mystery that Love reveals to the lover by immediate experienced (man lam yadhuq lam yadri), i.e. He who doesn’t taste doesn’t know. (Nicholson’s ommentary)
(5) Imam Abu Hanifa said, “Practice what you have learned, for theory without practice is like a body without a spirit.” He who is contented with learning alone is not learned, and the truly learned man is not content with learning alone. Similarly, Divine guidance (hidayyat) involves self-mortification (mujahadat), without which contemplation (mushahadat) is unattainable. There is no knowledge without action, since knowledge is the product of action, brought forth, developed, and made profitable by the blessings of action. The two things cannot be divorced in any way, just as the Light of the Sun cannot be separated from the Sun itself (Kashaf-al-Mahjub, p. 95).
(6) God is ‘near the jugular vein’ as told in Qur’an (50:16); everything nearby or far in universe reflects His Presence.
(7) Splitting of moon is a miracle ascribed to Hazrat Muhammad (SAW). (Qur’an, 54:1). It reflects the dawn of Truth because the moon’s Light is borrowed from the Sun, whereas the Sun is the genuine leader of the stars in heaven. Therefore when a true leader takes hold, the leaders of time give by.
(8) Again, the concept of Tawhid is firmly established: God is One and omnipotent. We can think of a hundred similitudes of the Sun, a created being, though nobody has seen an illuminating body like the Sun (till Rumi’s time). However, no one can conceive of God what He really is.
(9) Shams of Tabriz was the spiritual mentor of Rumi. He was his soul companion. He had discovered spiritual states and stations with him. So he had deep regard and Love for him in his heart. He honors both his knowledge, which, like the Sun, illuminated his soul, and friendship that supported and consoled him in dealing with the difficulties throughout the Masanavi.
(10) Fana, annihilation is the most desired Sufi state to claim union with God. It involves neutralizing or abandoning baser human instincts, thoughts, and values (such as doubt, suspicion, jealousy, and arrogance) noted as human attributes to acquire divine virtues (such as patience & magnanimity) acclaimed and Practiced by saints and prophets. Click for Detail.
(11) In the words of Junayd (ra), intoxication denotes excess of longing and extremity of Love, and neither can be acquired by human effort. In contrast, sobriety denotes the soundness of one’s spiritual state. As quoted in Kashaf-al-Mahjub, p.189. Click for Detail
(12) In the state of intoxication, the person may talk in a way that makes no sense, like delirium. A person may appear to be disrespectful, indecent, or even a lunatic or a heretic to the common. So the elect Sufis advise to keep sobriety.
(13) The true interest of a Sufi is self-abandonment. When the attraction of Truth manifests its dominion, all his actions are confounded, and he loses all powers of expression; nor can any name be applied to him or any description be given of him or
anything be imputed to him. Shibli has said: (Kashaf-al-Mahjub p. 195)
“I am lost to myself and unconscious, And my attributes are annihilated.
Today I am lost to all things: Naught remains but a forced expression.”
(14) It is the “soul” which seeks knowledge of friend. It wants Union with the Ultimate Truth.
(15) Time is a cutting sword because it is characteristic of a sword to cut and “time” cuts the root of the future and the past, obliterates care of yesterday and tomorrow from the past, and obliterates care of yesterday and tomorrow from the heart.
Time is beyond human acquisition; it is hard to be found, as it is neither sold, nor exchanged, and one has no power to attract or repel time. Sword must be respected and managed with care; violence being its essential attribute would favor none, not even its possessor or the loved one of the possessor (Kashaf-al-Mahjub, p.369).
(16) According to mystic tradition, ‘Ibn-al-waqt’ is a Sufi experiencing unbounded spiritual state, which reflects the gifts he has been bestowed. He is more prone to being ‘reactive’ and acquiring emotional mode, and he is termed “Qalandar” and “Rind” as well. (Masnavi Maulvi Ma’navi, Urdu Translation & commentary by Qazi Sajjad Hussain, vol.1, p. 45).
(17) ‘Ibn-al-Haal’ is the Sufi fully in control of his spiritual state; he never lets the common guess his spiritual heights, that he has reached the knowledge of Essence. Click for Detail.
(18) Abu Ali Juzjani would say, “The saint is annihilated in his state and subsistent in the contemplation of The Truth.” In contemplation, it is impossible to regard only God. He cannot be peace with anyone but God because a man has knowledge only of his own state, and when all his states are annihilated, he cannot tell anything about himself. He cannot relate it to any other human being, because to tell of one’s hidden state to others is betrayal, revealing secrets of the Beloved, and no one can hold that but The eloved Himself (Kashaf-al-Mahjub, p.216).
(19) Abu Hamid Al-Balkhi would exclaim, “it is wrong to seek the way since the way to God is like the blazing Sun; do thou seek thyself, for when thou hast found thyself, thou art come to thy journey’s end.” God is too manifest to admit of His being sought. He has also recommended, “Hide your poverty, do not proclaim yourself to be a Sufi (dervish); lest your secret be discovered, for it is a great grace bestowed on thee by God.”
(20) It is again talking of union. One cannot be subsistent with God in Essence. It is only achieved through annihilation of annihilation. Click for Detail. (hyperlink for Kashf ul Mahjub page Annihilation”)
(21) All boundaries crossed; there is nothing in-between, hither or thither, all is spread to nothingness. It is a state of knowledge of Truth, complete annihilation as stated above.
(22) It reaffirms omnipotence of Allah the Almighty; human reason and logic must humble itself before it. As established in Spiritual Reverence… Click for detail.
(23) Again the preference for “sobriety” has been claimed. Disturbing Divine ordinance hails destruction. The only solution lies in surrender, i.e. understanding and following Divine Law. One of the purposes of writing Masanavi was to declare true path of the way, i.e. how to acquire spiritual purification, and relieving the way from unholy rhetoric.