M1:1740 — ما چه باشد در لغت اثبات و نفی / من نه اثباتم‌ منم بی‌ذات و نفی

This profound couplet comes from a section where Rumi, channeling the voice of the divine Beloved, is explaining the inadequacy of human language and conceptual frameworks to grasp the divine reality. The preceding verses (M1:1733-1739) describe how the Beloved urges the poet to abandon the search for mere 'rhyme' (قافیه) and 'words' (حرف) and instead seek the 'vision' (دیدار) of the Beloved. The Beloved promises to speak without 'letters, sound, or speech' (حرف و صوت و گفت) — a direct, unmediated communication of secrets never before revealed, not even to prophets like Abraham or angels like Gabriel.

Against this backdrop, the question 'ما چه باشد در لغت اثبات و نفی' ('What is 'we' in language, but affirmation and denial?') is rhetorical. 'ما' (we) here refers to the divine 'I' that encompasses all existence, yet transcends it. The Beloved immediately answers: 'من نه اثباتم‌ منم بی‌ذات و نفی' ('I am not affirmation; I am without essence and denial'). This means the divine reality cannot be contained by human categories of 'being' (اثبات) or 'non-being' (نفی). It is 'بی‌ذات' (without essence) in the sense that its essence is beyond comprehension or definition, not that it lacks existence. The divine is not merely a 'thing' that can be affirmed or denied; it is the ground of all being, existing prior to and beyond such distinctions. This points to the Sufi concept of tanzih (transcendence) and the ultimate ineffability of God.