M1:694 — چون بصورت آمد آن نور سره / شد عدد چون سایه‌های کنگره

Translation: When that pure, unblemished light assumed form, It became multitudinous, like the shadows of a battlement's merlons.

Meaning: This verse explains how the singular, formless divine light, upon entering the world of matter and form, breaks down into multiplicity and countless manifestations, much like the diverse shadows cast by a single architectural battlement.

You see, this verse is seated at the very heart of Rumi's ontology, and grasping it is key to understanding many of his parables. Rumi speaks here of the nūr-i sarah — the pure, unblemished light that, prior to entering the world of form, was singular and featureless. This is the very state I alluded to in the preceding verse (M1:693): "We were all expanded, a single essence / We were all that head, without head or foot." We were all one single substance, without distinction or multiplicity, like shapeless water or light not yet fractured by a prism.

That nūr-i sarah, that singular origin, when it "assumed form" — meaning, when it manifested in the diverse and material templates of this world — "became multitudinous, like the shadows of a battlement's merlons." These merlons, the architectural structures atop battlements and castles, cast countless shadows when light strikes them. The shadows are many, but the original light and the battlement itself are one. This unparalleled metaphor traces the apparent multiplicity we observe in this world back to an inner, formless unity. Humans, objects, and all phenomena of the cosmos are forms that reflect the singular light of existence, but each form is a specific manifestation, a distinct "number," of that oneness.

A crucial point you must understand is that this transformation from unity to multiplicity, or from formlessness to form, is not a historical or temporal event. Do not imagine that in some distant past we were all unified and then separated. No, this "pre-eternity" (azal) that mystics speak of is right now. In the supra-natural realm, in the world of intellects (ʿuqūl) and divine majesty (jabarūt), time as we know it does not exist. Time itself is a created entity, belonging solely to the natural world. Rumi himself explicitly states: "The placeless realm where the light of God resides / Where is its past, its future, its present? / Its past and future are relative to you / Both are one thing, though you deem them two." Therefore, unity and formlessness are extra-historical and timeless states that are continuously present, and multiplicity is their ongoing manifestation in the world of form. This is the key insight of "formlessness" (bi-ṣūratī), from which our world of forms has emerged. This entire world is like the foam on the endless ocean of the soul. Forms are transient, but the singular essence is perpetually and timelessly present.

Key takeaways

• The world originates from a singular, formless divine light that manifests itself in multiplicity.
• Multiplicity and diversity in the world of form, like shadows of a battlement, are mere reflections of an essential unity.
• The transformation from formlessness to form is not a past historical event, but an eternal, present reality.
• Time and space pertain to our natural and physical world, having no place in the realm of unity and divine majesty.
• Understanding 'formlessness' (bi-ṣūratī) is a crucial insight into Rumi's ontology and the relationship between soul and body.