M6:107 — آنچنان که لمعهٔ درپاش اوست / شمس دنیا در صفت خفاش اوست

Translation: So brilliant is its pearl-scattering gleam, / The sun of this world is as a bat to its beam. Meaning: This verse describes the immense grandeur of divine light, stating that even the world's most luminous phenomena are insignificant and overwhelmed compared to that infinite radiance.

I have previously touched upon Mawlana's concept of the "star without direction" (setāreh-ye bi-jehat). This verse, in my estimation, is precisely a description of that star—a manifestation of absolute truth, a truth that is formless and directionless, transcending all our material and mental conceptions. Mawlana states that this star is so "pearl-scattering in its gleam" (lam'eh-ye dor-pāsh) that even the radiant sun of this world, in comparison, is like a "bat" (khofāsh). This simile powerfully conveys the ultimate majesty and luminosity of that divine truth. Just as a bat cannot endure the sun's light and becomes blind in its presence, so too, the sun of this world, with all its splendor, is incapable of perceiving and receiving the divine light; it is, in a sense, blinded. This underscores that the light of Truth is so immense and overwhelming that it eclipses all other lights. This imagery is not limited to the sun. Mawlana adds in the subsequent verse that "the seven azure spheres are in its servitude" (haft charkh-e azraqī dar raqq-e ūst), meaning all seven blue heavens are enslaved to this light. And "the moon's messenger is in its fever and consumption" (peyk-e māh andar tabb-o dar daqq-e ūst): the moon, acting as a messenger, feels such inferiority and helplessness before that light that it appears to be afflicted by fever and consumption, becoming thin and weak. All these analogies serve to illustrate the extreme grandeur and boundlessness of this divine reality, which Mawlana refers to as "formlessness" (bī-ṣūratī). It is crucial to understand that Mawlana here speaks not of thought or intellect, but of a pure light. He emphasizes, "Where is thought? There, all is pure light" (Fikr ko? Ānjā hameh nur ast pāk). In that exalted realm, there is no unknown that requires intellectual deliberation; everything is entirely light and presence. Thus, this "star without direction" and its scattering light are of the nature of immediate, unmediated knowledge (maʿrefat-e hoẓūrī), not acquired knowledge (maʿrefat-e ḥoṣūlī). Despite this, Mawlana must resort to similes and imagery for us, who possess "frozen intellects" (ʿaql-e monjamed) and are "weak yet enamored" (ḍaʿīfī-ye ʿeshqmend). These metaphors are bridges, allowing our limited minds to grasp, however imperfectly, these profound concepts and enabling our frozen intellects to "flow" (basīl). The comparison of the sun to a bat before divine light is one such potent simile, vividly, though incompletely, depicting the boundlessness of that Truth.

Key takeaways

• Divine truth is beyond all form and direction, akin to a "star without direction."
• God's light is so dominant that even the most luminous phenomena of the material world are rendered powerless and insignificant in its presence (the sun as a bat).
• This divine light commands the servitude and submission of all celestial beings.
• The apprehension of absolute truth transcends the domain of discursive thought and intellect, belonging instead to immediate, unmediated knowledge.
• Mawlana's metaphors and similes serve as tools to convey elevated truths to weak yet enamored intellects.