M1:410 — ای بسی اصحابِ کهف اندر جهان / پهلوی تو پیش تو هست این زمان

Translation: Oh, how many Aṣḥāb-e Kahf (Companions of the Cave) there are in the world, Beside you, before you, they exist right now.

Meaning: This verse suggests that enlightened and spiritually advanced individuals, akin to the Companions of the Cave, are living among us in this very world, yet our spiritual blindness and limited perception prevent us from recognizing them.

In this verse, Rumi offers a profound and revealing insight into a quality of spiritual presence in our world that often remains hidden. Prior to this, Rumi had expressed a yearning for the human soul, after experiencing sleep (the brother of death), to remain in the unseen realm forever, much like the Aṣḥāb-e Kahf, rather than returning to this tumultuous world. This Sufi aspiration is echoed in a statement by Abd-al-Quddus Gangohi, as quoted by Iqbal, who said, 'The Prophet ascended (to mi'raj) and returned. Had it been me, by God, I would not have returned.' However, Rumi now takes a step further, introducing a third quality of existence.

He states that some of these perfected mystics, contrary to merely wishing not to return, have indeed come back to the world and live among us. They are like the 'Companions of the Cave' – neither fully asleep nor fully awake in the conventional sense. They are 'both asleep and awake,' meaning they have experienced both the unseen realm of stillness and returned to the visible realm of activity. These individuals are 'in the grip of God's transformations and divine administration,' yet they lead outwardly ordinary lives. In the true sense, they are witnesses to the ultimate unity of all things.

The crucial and poignant point Rumi makes is that these enlightened beings are 'beside you, before you, they exist right now.' They are present in this very moment, in our immediate vicinity. But where lies the problem? Rumi answers in the very next verse (M1:411): 'The seal is upon your eye, so what good is your ear?' This alludes to the Quranic verse, 'Allāh has set a seal upon their hearts and upon their hearing, and over their eyes is a veil' (2:7). This spiritual seal on our eyes and ears prevents us from perceiving their presence. We live amidst an ocean of meaning and gnosis, yet we lack the eye to see it.

To elucidate this truth, Rumi immediately recounts the story of Majnūn and Laylā. The Caliph sees Laylā and remarks, 'You are no more beautiful than other beauties.' But Laylā replies, 'Be silent! For you are not Majnūn.' The difference lies in the eye of the beholder, not in the object beheld. The world is full of Shams-e Tabriz, but where is a Rumi to perceive him? The world is replete with divine signs (āyāt), but few possess the 'eye to see' them. This verse serves as a wake-up call, reminding us that if we fail to perceive something, it does not necessarily imply its non-existence, but rather a deficiency in our own vision and perception. This is a foundational message of the Masnavi: true knowledge lies not in the accumulation of information, but in the depth and clarity of the perceiver.

Key takeaways

• Enlightened and perfected individuals live hidden among us, not far away.
• Our inability to perceive these mystics stems from our own limited vision and heedlessness, not their absence.
• This verse introduces a state between sleep (the unseen) and wakefulness (the seen) for certain special individuals.
• Like the story of Majnūn and Laylā, true beauty and reality are only revealed to the prepared eye and awakened heart.
• Rumi emphasizes that the world is full of hidden truths, and it is we who must cultivate the inner eye to see them.
• This verse serves as a call to transcend superficiality and seek the profound depths of being.