M1:396 — حالِ عارف این بود بی‌خواب هَم / گفت ایزد «هُمْ رُقودًٌ» زین مَرَم

Translation: Such is the state of the Gnostic, even without sleep; God said, concerning the Companions of the Cave: "They are sleeping" (appearing awake, yet inwardly absent from the world). Meaning: The mystic lives in this world as if constantly in a deep dream, outwardly awake but oblivious to worldly affairs and immersed in unseen realities.

This verse follows passages where Mawlana describes how God, each night, liberates souls from the snare of the body, freeing them from worldly thoughts in sleep. Mawlana then uses this universal experience of sleep as a bridge to explain the state of the 'ārif (mystic). I say, the mystic is in this world, but not in the same way as others. Their state is such that they live as if constantly in a deep sleep; a sleep that is not blind but a waking slumber.

This "waking sleep" implies not a negligence born of inattention, but a presence and awareness in another realm. The mystic, though their eyes are open and they are physically present among people, is oblivious to sensory and worldly affairs. Their mind is engaged with "scenes of another world" and "pure spiritual thoughts and experiences." It is here that Mawlana refers to the Quran, specifically to the description of the Aṣḥāb al-Kahf (Companions of the Cave) in Surah Al-Kahf, where God says: «وَتَحْسَبُهُمْ أَيْقَاظًا وَهُمْ رُقُودٌ» ("You would think them awake, though they were asleep"). Commentators have noted this refers to their open eyes, making them appear awake, yet they were in a deep slumber. Mawlana suggests the mystic's state is likewise: they appear awake but are asleep, asleep to the affairs of this world.

This sleep of the mystic unveils secrets that are invisible in ordinary wakefulness. Just as in sleep, we sometimes see beyond the veils and are released from the constraints of time and space, the mystic, in this waking-sleep, perceives the "invisible hands" that guide the world. They find themselves merely a "pen in the hand of the Lord's turning" (qalam dar panjeh-ye taqlīb-i Rabb); a pen in the hand of a mighty writer, possessing no will of its own. This metaphor of the pen is not dissimilar to the metaphor of the reed (nay) on the reed-player's lips (at the beginning of the Mathnawi). Both signify that the mystic's being is an instrument in the hand of a higher will, and the melody or inscription originates from that source, not from them.

One who does not see the guiding hand assumes the pen acts autonomously, writing by itself; similarly, in our heedlessness, we perceive the world and its events as independent of divine orchestration. However, the mystic profoundly experiences that not only they themselves, but the entire cosmos, are "images in a mirror" that do not stand on their own feet. To help us grasp a glimpse of this mystic state, Mawlana refers us to our own "sensory sleep"; to those moments when we are asleep and have no conscious will over our dreams or movements, being completely passive in the hands of other forces. The mystic's state, for all its awareness and depth, is similarly one of passivity before the divine will.

Key takeaways

• The mystic's state is a form of "waking sleep"; outwardly present in the world, yet inwardly oblivious to it and present in another realm.
• This "sleep" denotes an inner presence in unseen realities and an obliviousness to the sensory and superficial aspects of the world.
• Mawlana refers to the Quranic description of the Companions of the Cave—"You would think them awake, though they were asleep"—to elucidate this condition.
• The mystic perceives themselves as a "pen in the hand of the Lord's turning"; an instrument whose will is not its own, with all its movements stemming from an unseen hand.
• The mystic's insight reveals that not only they, but all worldly affairs, are guided by invisible hands—a truth unrecognized by the heedless.
• Our "sensory sleep," with its involuntariness in dreams, offers a small glimpse into the mystic's passivity before the divine will.