M6:627 — ای مزوّر چشم بگشای و ببین / چند گویی می‌ندانم آن و این

Translation: O dissembler, open your eye and see; how long will you say, 'I know not this and that'? Meaning: Rumi addresses the deceitful and skeptical individual, who is deprived of the truth, urging them to cease their claims of ignorance and blindness, and instead open their inner eye to perceive the realities of the living cosmos.

I find this beyt to be one of those passages where Mawlana, without reservation, shouts at the reader or at a particular mode of thought. His addressee is the muzawwir, the 'dissembler' or 'deceiver.' But this is not merely a hypocrite; this person suffers from another ailment: they constantly declare, 'I know not this and that.' This 'not knowing' is accompanied by doubt and denial; it is an active skepticism, not a passive ignorance.

I believe Mawlana here may be addressing the intellect (ʿaql). The very intellect can be the source of many deceptions and stratagems. A simple, sincere person cannot be cunning; cunning is the work of a 'demonic' intellect. Alternatively, this address could be directed at philosophers and thinkers, particularly those skeptical of certainty (yaqīn) and direct apprehension (wuṣūl), who deem everything probabilistic and constantly speak of their ignorance regarding absolute truths, including the divine essence. Mawlana considers this 'I-know-not' discourse a sickness.

But the muzawwir's illness is not solely zarq (deceit and hypocrisy); they are also afflicted by maḥrūmī (deprivation). Deprivation from what? From seeing the face of the Beloved, from attaining certainty, from experiencing union. Mawlana proposes the cure for these ailments lies in opening the inner eye: 'Open your eye and see!' You must emerge from this 'plague of deceit and deprivation' and enter 'the world of the Living and Self-Subsisting' (jahān-i ḥayy-i qayyūmī).

This 'world of the Living and Self-Subsisting' does not merely mean a world created by the Living and Self-Subsisting God. That is a common belief among theists. Mawlana's meaning is far deeper; he asks us to perceive the world as 'alive.' That is, to see God's attribute of 'Life' extended over all things. In his cosmos, nothing is truly 'dead' in its essential reality. This perspective is intimately linked to the concept of Tuḥīd Ṣifātī (the Unity of Attributes), wherein every good attribute we observe in this world is, in truth, a reflection of that same attribute in the Divine Essence. Like beauty or life, which are originally God's, and whose various degrees manifest in creation. Furthermore, this world, from Mawlana's perspective, is not self-subsistent but perpetually and instantaneously sustained by God's Qayyūmīyyat (Self-Subsistence); this is Tuḥīd Afʿālī (the Unity of Actions), where every action and movement in the world ultimately refers back to God's action, even if it passes through natural channels and causal laws. It's like an arrow shot from a bow: the wise person sees the archer, not merely the bow.

So, open your eye and understand that your own life is but a flame from the Divine Life. What is the result of opening this eye and entering this jahān-i ḥayy-i qayyūmī? As Mawlana says in the subsequent couplet, 'So that 'I see not' becomes 'I see,' and these 'I know not's become 'I know'.' That is, the unseen become seen, and the unknown become known. This is why the Masnavi promises wuṣūl (union) and yaqīn (certainty); it promises an 'unmediated' seeing and knowing, something modern skeptical philosophies have deemed impossible.

Key takeaways

• Mawlana identifies the muzawwir (dissembler) as a symbol of calculating and skeptical reason, which opts for deceit and feigned ignorance instead of seeking truth.
• Deprivation from certainty (yaqīn) and union (wuṣūl) is the primary ailment of the muzawwir, preventing them from perceiving the Beloved's face and achieving truth.
• The cure for this illness lies in 'opening the eye,' signifying a perception beyond sensory experience and partial intellect, leading to the apprehension of cosmic realities.
• The jahān-i ḥayy-i qayyūmī (World of the Living and Self-Subsisting) is one where all beings are perceived as alive and sustained by God; nothing in Mawlana's cosmos is truly dead or devoid of essential beauty.
• By emphasizing Tuḥīd Ṣifātī and Afʿālī (Unity of Attributes and Actions), Mawlana calls the reader to see the ultimate Agent behind all worldly phenomena.
• The ultimate promise of this opened eye is the transformation of 'not knowing' into 'knowing' and 'not seeing' into 'seeing,' leading to true certainty and mystical union.