M1:1147 — صورت از بی‌صورتی آمد برون / باز شد که اِنّا اِلَیْه راجِعوُن

Translation: Form emerged from the Formless; and it returned, as [the verse says] "Verily, to Him we are returning." Meaning:* This verse speaks to the ontological truth that all phenomena and forms in the world originate from a formless realm and ultimately return to that same formlessness.

This verse unveils one of the most pivotal insights of the Masnavi and indeed, the truth of existence itself: all forms, all phenomena, everything that is seen and has a quiddity in this world, has emerged from a formless origin, from a realm devoid of specific quiddities. What we call "formlessness" is not non-existence; rather, it is the undifferentiated domain of absolute being, beyond any shape or description. To use the language of philosophers, an existence that is without quiddity has acquired quiddity for this world of myriad forms to come into being. Yet, in its depths, it continuously leans upon and draws sustenance from that very formlessness.

I have often stated that the ney (reed) is the perfect symbol of this principle. The ney itself has no inherent sound or form, but when the breath of the player courses through it, it produces all manner of joyful and sorrowful melodies. This is the hidden secret within the ney that Mowlana speaks of in the opening verses: the ney is formless, yet it creates forms. This is why he said, "Everyone became my friend according to their own notion / But no one sought my secrets from within me." Many saw the ney merely as an instrument to produce a tune, but they overlooked the fact that the ney is essentially formless, and this very formlessness is the secret of its capacity to imbue with form. Mowlana himself, like the ney, considered himself a manifestation through which, from within his own formlessness, he poured words into the molds of form, as he sang, "I am the form-creating painter, at every moment I fashion an idol / And then I melt all those idols before You." Every agent, every cause, functions in this manner.

The second part of the verse, "and it returned, as [the verse says] 'Verily, to Him we are returning,'" refers to the return of these forms to their formless source. This return is the culmination of the soul's evolutionary journey, which Mowlana describes elsewhere in the Masnavi with his famous verses: "I died from the mineral and became a plant / I died from the plant and reached the animal... I shall die yet again from humanity / To sprout wings like angels / And from the angel I must also seek to leap / 'Everything is perishing except His Face' / Once more I shall sacrifice myself from the angelic state / To become what no thought can conceive / Then I shall become non-being, non-being like an organ-pipe / Telling me, 'Verily, to Him we are returning.'" This "non-being" (adam) or "nothingness" (nīstī) that Mowlana speaks of is not annihilation but liberation from limiting forms and quiddities, a reaching towards the formless domain of "Oneness." This is the secret of "no" or "nothing" within the ney; an admission of existential non-being and poverty before absolute existence, which itself is the source of all existence. "We are like the ney, and the melody in us is from You / We are like the mountain, and the echo in us is from You." Our very existence belongs to Him, and our return is also to that place, to that same formless origin which was the origin of all forms.

Key takeaways

• The essence of existence is formless and devoid of quiddity; all forms arise from it.
• Formlessness does not mean non-existence, but a state beyond all specific determinations.
• The ney (reed flute) symbolizes this formlessness, taking on various forms (melodies) through the breath of the player.
• The verse affirms the ultimate return of all forms to their formless origin ( innā ilayhi rājiʿūn).
• The soul's evolutionary journey is a return from the multiplicity of forms to the unity of the formless.
• Our true being, like the reed, belongs to the Absolute, and the melody within us is from Him.