Lesen› Buch 6› Interpretation seines Ausspruchs ﷺ: »Sterbt, bevor ihr sterbt!« Stirb, o Freund, vor dem Tod, wenn du Leben willst, denn Idris wurde durch solches Sterben vor uns ins Paradies aufgenommen.› Vers 737
M6:737 — این زمان جز نفی ضد اعلام نیست / اندرین نشات دمی بیدام نیست
M6:737
Bedeutung · به زبانِ تو — Deine Sprache · AI
In our current state of existence, we can only grasp reality indirectly by what it is not, because every moment in this world is filled with illusions and traps that obscure direct perception.
This couplet is part of Rumi's explanation of the Prophetic saying, "Die before you die." The 'death' he advocates is the annihilation of the false self, the ego (nafs), which perceives the world through duality.
The first line makes a classic philosophical point: in this world, we know things by their opposites. We understand light by knowing darkness, health by knowing sickness, and existence by knowing non-existence. This is an indirect, relative knowledge, not the direct, unmediated vision of Reality (God). Rumi argues that this mode of perception is inherent to our current state of being (nashʾat).
The second line explains why our knowledge is limited in this way. This worldly existence, he says, is a place of constant entanglement. Every moment (dam) contains a trap (dām)—the illusions of the senses, the desires of the ego, the distractions of material form. These snares prevent us from seeing things as they truly are. Therefore, to attain direct knowledge, one must 'die' to this state of being and its inherent limitations, transcending the world of opposites and traps.
- نفی ضد
- Negation of the opposite. A philosophical concept stating that a thing can be known or defined by what it is not. Here, it signifies the indirect, relative knowledge available in the material world, as opposed to direct, unitive knowing.
- اعلام
- An announcement, declaration, or means of knowing. In this context, it refers to the way reality is made known or perceived by us.
- نشات
- (Arabic: nashʾa) Origination, creation, plane of existence. Rumi uses it here to mean this current phenomenal world or our present state of being, which is characterized by duality and illusion.
- دم
- A breath, a moment. It signifies the smallest unit of time or existence, suggesting the pervasive nature of the 'trap'.
- دام
- A trap or a snare. A common Sufi metaphor for the entanglements of the material world and the ego, which capture the soul and prevent its spiritual ascent.
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