M1:752 — رگ رگست این آبِ شیرین و آب شور / در خلایق می‌رود تا نفخ صور

Translation: Vein by vein, this sweet water and salty water, Flows among creatures until the Trumpet's blast. Meaning: This verse posits that within humanity and throughout the course of earthly life, good and evil, guidance and misguidance, are perpetually intermingled, a condition that will persist until the Day of Judgment.

I have often stated that our understanding of God and His power must fundamentally embrace the idea that no one and no power can truly "shut down" the divine project. The notion that God's will for humanity's guidance, delivered through prophets, could be thwarted by a few individuals who derailed His plan, is a profound error in our theology. This perspective—whether it's the Shi'ite narrative seeing the deviation of the caliphate as the Prophet's failure, or Protestant accounts of the Church's corruption—effectively ties God's hands and expresses a lack of trust in His plan.

No, this is absolutely impossible. God, as the Quran states, is "ghālibun ʿalā amrih" (dominant over His affair); He is in control of His work, and no one can "dislodge" Him or halt His mount. Divine guidance is like the sun, which no cloud can permanently obscure. This light extends over the world and all human beings, and no one can close the door to guidance.

It is here that Mowlana, with his profound insight, points to the pluralistic and mixed nature of the world. This verse sits at the heart of this discussion: "Vein by vein, this sweet water and salty water, / Flows among creatures until the Trumpet's blast." This means that in this world, we do not deal with "pure" realities. There is no pure guidance, no pure misguidance, no pure Islam, no pure Christianity. Everything is mixed. Just as the water God sent down from the sky, when it flowed, foam arose upon it, as the Quran states: "He sent down water from the sky, and valleys flowed according to their measure, and the torrent carried a swelling foam" (fa-'ḥtamala al-saylu zabadan rābiyan). This "foam" represents the extraneous and alien elements that have entered the water, making it frothy and impure. Our share in this world is nothing more than this.

Therefore, our duty is to seek guidance and purity within these very impurities and mixtures. The logic that deems Jews, Christians, or any other group entirely astray is profoundly flawed. Pluralism means that the shadow of God's guidance is spread over the world and all human beings, and no one has been able, or ever will be able, to corrupt or invalidate His plan. The disagreement among believers, infidels, and Jews, as Mowlana says elsewhere, "is from the perspective, O essence of existence / The divergence of believer, Zoroastrian, and Jew." The light is one, but the lamps are different: "This clay and this wick are different / The light is not different." A single light manifests in multiple vessels, and this state of mingling and the flow of sweet and salty water will continue until the Trumpet's blast and the Day of Judgment. This indicates that such is the nature of the world, and it is within this context that one must seek guidance.

Key takeaways

• God's project of guidance cannot be thwarted by human actions; God is dominant over His affair.
• This world contains neither pure good nor pure evil; rather, it is a mixture of guidance and misguidance.
• No religion or group can be deemed entirely astray; guidance is attainable within these mixtures.
• Mowlana is a pluralist who sees multiplicity in the manifestations of a singular divine light.
• The intermingling of good and bad, guidance and misguidance, continues among humanity until the Day of Judgment.