M6:177 — گر ز بغداد و هری یا از ری‌اند / بی‌مزاج آب و گل نسل وی‌اند

Translation: Whether they be from Baghdad, Herat, or Rayy, They are of his progeny, without the mingling of water and clay. Meaning: Rumi asserts that the true successors and spiritual children of the Prophet are those connected to him through spirit and heart, rather than by physical lineage or geographical origin.

This couplet emerges within Rumi's discourse on the ultimate station of the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the profound spiritual openings ushered in by his prophecy. Here, Rumi, with characteristic clarity, expounds on the true nature of the Prophet’s spiritual children and successors, offering a foundational definition of his nasl (progeny) that lies at the very heart of his mystical thought. I contend that these verses, while faithful to Sunni intellectual frameworks, are also shrewdly compatible with Shi'i principles, as they unequivocally emphasize inner, spiritual wilāyat (guardianship/spiritual authority).

Rumi states that the Prophet’s genuine offspring, those muqbil khulafah-zadeh-gān (fortunate caliph-descendants) who are zādah-and az ʿonṣor-e jān-o del-ash (born of his essence of soul and heart), are those who maintain a spiritual and internal bond with him. This connection transcends any āb-o gel (water and clay) bond, which signifies physical and lineal lineage. He explicitly states: gar ze Baghdad-o Harī yā az Rayy-and / bī-mezāj-e āb-o gel nasl-e vay-and (Whether they are from Baghdad, Herat, or Rayy, they are his progeny without the mingling of water and clay). This phrase, bī-mezāj-e āb-o gel, is a direct negation of the importance of blood relation and geographical origin. Whether one is from Baghdad, the former center of the Abbasid Caliphate—which, notably, had already fallen to the Mongols by the time Rumi composed these verses, signaling its lost political and spiritual centrality for him; or from Herat, his own birthplace; or from Rayy, a city in Persia – it makes no difference. Material geography, tribal origins, or even blood lineage play no part in this spiritual sonship.

This perspective aligns perfectly with Rumi's broader view on the unity of saints and mystics. He believed that ittiḥād-e yār bā yārān khōsh ast / pā-ye maʿnā gīr ṣūrat-e sarkaṣh ast (The union of lovers with lovers is sweet; grasp the meaning, for form is rebellious), and that gar bebīnī to az īshān yek do yār / ham yekī bāsh-and-o ham shash-sad hazār (If you see one or two of them, they are both one and six hundred thousand). The spirits of God's saints are united, and apparent multiplicity does not diminish this inner unity. Thus, the Prophet's true successors, irrespective of any superficial differences (be they racial, gender-based, or geographical), are all spiritually intertwined. They represent a singular 'soul' born from the 'soul and heart' of the Prophet. Just as shākh-e gol har jā ke rūyad ham gol ast (Wherever a rose branch grows, it is still a rose) and khamr-e moll har jā ke jūshad ham moll ast (Wherever wine ferments, it is still wine), truth, wherever it manifests, remains truth, and its geography of appearance does not alter it. Even if gar ze maghreb bar zanad khōrshīd sar / ʿayn-e khōrshīd ast na chīz-e degar (If the sun rises from the West, it is still the very sun, not anything else); the sun's luminosity is not dependent on its direction of rising. These are all metaphors for the steadfastness and unity of truth.

This insight stands in stark contrast to the ʿayb-čīnān (fault-finders) and khuffāsh-khiṣālān (bat-natured individuals) who cling to nāmūs-hā-ye pūsīdeh (rotten conventions) and thus obstruct the dhawq-e īmān (taste of faith). These are the ones who fixate on outward details—on lineage, ancestry, and geography—and are incapable of grasping the spirit of meaning. Just as a bat shies away from the sun's light and cannot perceive not only the sun but also the stars, these individuals shy away from the light of truth. Consequently, they cannot recognize the āftāb (sun) of prophecy and the setāregān (stars) of spiritual guardianship. For them, no path is open to comprehending this 'progeny without the mingling of water and clay,' unless they liberate themselves from the clutches of these 'rotten conventions' and abandon their bat-like nature.

Key takeaways

• The true lineage and succession of the Prophet are spiritual and internal, not biological or geographical.
• Place of birth, ethnicity, or bloodline holds no bearing on one's spiritual connection to divine figures.
• The Prophet's true children are 'born of his soul and heart,' not of his 'water and clay.'
• Truth, regardless of its manifestation or external forms, remains constant and unified in its essence.
• Inner discernment is crucial for grasping the unity of truth, as opposed to literalist views that cling to outward forms.