M6:614 — ای عدوّ شرم و اندیشه بیا / که دریدم پردهٔ شرم و حیا

Translation: O enemy of shame and thought, come! For I have torn the veil of shame and modesty.

Meaning: Love tears away all veils of caution and modesty, allowing the lover to speak boldly and without reservation to the Beloved.

This couplet is an invitation for love to enter the stage of the lover's life. Here, Mowlana declares that the time has come to cast aside all reservations. If I once harbored caution or hesitation in speaking, I must now shed it all. Now, I wish to speak unveiled and boldly with my Beloved. This echoes the preceding line, "Let me cast off my form, to become pure soul," meaning I desire to speak without the veil of the body, or even the awareness of the body, without any covering, directly to my Beloved.

The address, "O enemy of shame and thought," is directed at love itself. Love, in Mowlana's view, is the adversary of shame and modesty. It is crucial to understand that shame and modesty hold immense importance in the realm of reason (ʿaql) and in conventional relationships. In my judgment, shame is the most fundamental and basic moral characteristic; a shameless person is the most immoral of all. However, love is of a nature that it tears through this very veil of shame and modesty. Between the lover and the Beloved, there should be no shame, no modesty; these are for the rational. In the state of love, the lover must share everything with the Beloved – whatever grievances, bitter experiences, or sweet joys there may be. These are all part of the etiquette of love.

Such unreserved speech by Mowlana, this tearing of the veil of shame and modesty and speaking boldly with God, is a rare and distinct stance within the Masnavi. We recall that Mowlana makes a similar complaint in one of his ghazals from the Divan-e Shams, saying, "O Lord, by Your grace, by Your kindness and generosity / Do not hold it against me, I speak in a troubled state, for my soul is distraught without You." He then immediately corrects himself, asking God not to reprimand him. Yet, in this couplet, the tearing of the veil goes even further, to the point of addressing the Beloved with the epithet, "O hard-hearted Companion, who is in the world!" – that is, calling the Beloved "hard-hearted," which itself represents the zenith of tearing the veil of modesty.

Key takeaways

• Love necessitates discarding conventional shame and modesty for the lover to speak unreservedly.
• Bold, uninhibited speech with the Beloved is a hallmark of authentic love.
• What is considered improper in the realm of reason (e.g., complaining to the Beloved) is permissible, even virtuous, in the realm of love.
• This couplet represents one of Mowlana's rare instances in the Masnavi where he fearlessly tears the veils of shame, even daring to voice a 'complaint' to the Beloved.
• The 'tearing of the veil of shame and modesty' symbolizes complete self-abandonment and the unveiling of the innermost self before the Beloved.