M6:25 — شد دهانشان تلخ ازین شرم و خجل / که قرین شد نام اعظم با اقل

Translation: Their mouths turned bitter from this shame and chagrin That the Greatest Name was paired with the least.

Meaning: This verse speaks to the profound shame felt by lesser forms of existence (other 'seas') when they apprehend the immense grandeur of the Divine Sea of Generosity and Being. Their 'mouths turn bitter' because the greatest reality (God) is 'paired' with what is ontologically 'least' – whether it be a divine saint or even the physical world.

Mowlana here delves into the pinnacle of divine grandeur and its relationship with contingent existence. This couplet follows the simile of the 'jar' and the 'sea,' where the divine saint (wali) is likened to a jar connected to the boundless ocean of divinity. This jar, though outwardly 'least' (aqall) and seemingly nothing, through its connection to the 'Greatest Name' (ism-e aʿẓam), becomes a sea before which a hundred rivers bow. Thus, such a wali is described as 'one like a thousand,' possessing the worth of countless generations.

This verse reflects the astonishment of existence in the face of divine majesty. The 'all seas' refers to other beings and levels of existence. When they become aware of the Divine Sea of Generosity and Being and witness how this infinite sea is 'paired' and 'companion' with something ontologically 'least' (through its manifestation in a wali or the creation of this very world), 'their mouths turn bitter.' This bitterness is not born of anger but of shame and chagrin: shame at their own smallness and inadequacy before that boundless majesty, and embarrassment at how such a great name accompanies what appears to be insignificant.

Mowlana immediately expands this concept to the 'pairing of this world with that world.' He states that the same occurs when we place this world (the realm of nature) alongside that world (the realm of meaning and divinity). 'This world then, from shame, becomes a world that leaps' (jahan with a j). This 'leap' signifies not annihilation but awakening and transformation; it is as if the world itself stirs from its humility and aspires to a higher station. This is not Mowlana's pluralistic view of existence, but rather an affirmation of the hierarchy of being and the majesty of the divine realm.

As I have often pointed out, Mowlana employs the limitations of human language to express profound truths. Here, he himself states: 'This expression is narrow and deficient in rank / Otherwise, what kinship is there between the trifling and the viler?' He acknowledges the inadequacy of language to describe this relationship, for one cannot even compare the 'trifling' (khas) with the 'viler' (akhass), let alone compare the created with the Creator. By this, he not only admits the insufficiency of language but further emphasizes the infinite majesty of God; a majesty that causes even the 'seas' of other existences to feel shame and propels the world itself into motion.

Key takeaways

• The shame and chagrin of the material world before the boundless grandeur of Divine Being.
• The exalted station of the divine saint (wali), who, though among the 'least,' becomes a manifestation of the Divine Sea through connection to the 'Greatest Name.'
• This world, when compared to the world of meaning, stirs and transforms out of shame for its own inadequacy.
• The inadequacy of human language to describe the relationship between Creator and creature, and God's infinite majesty.
• The apprehension of divine grandeur leads to awakening and movement within existence, rather than despair.