M6:1819 — ذکر آن اریاح سرد و زمهریر / اندر آن ازمان و ایام عسیر

Translation: A remembrance of those cold and bitter winds, In those difficult times and harsh days.

Meaning: This verse, continuing the metaphor of ice in summer, describes how that ice perpetually recalls the biting winds and intense cold of past winters, bringing those arduous times to mind.

This verse continues a beautiful allegory that Mevlana began in the preceding line (M6:1818: Like ice that in fresh summer / constantly tells tales of winter). I submit that Mevlana, through this imagery from nature, is in fact imparting an ontological lesson. Ice, itself a token of winter, even in the warmth of summer (tammuz-e mostajadd), continues to narrate the legend of winter. This narration stems not from complaint, but from testimony; a testimony to its roots and origins. Ice is not merely a passive entity that silently melts in summer; it is a speaker, a narrator of its own past. As I have indicated before, narration (ḥikāyat) is the essence of Mevlana's discourse, a fundamental difference from complaining (shikāyat). Ice speaks of its origin, of its separation from winter, and recounts it, rather than lamenting it.

This specific verse precisely delineates the content that the ice narrates: A remembrance of those cold and bitter winds / In those difficult times and harsh days. "Aryāḥ" is the plural of "rīḥ," meaning winds. Winds that are cold and "Zahrīr." The word "Zahrīr" itself derives from the Persian root "zam," meaning cold, and "zamestān" (winter) is also derived from this root. Zahrīr, as you may know, in some traditions, including Zoroastrian texts, refers to a hell where sinners are not cast into fire but into unimaginable cold; for fire is sacred. Thus, this is not merely an adjective for cold, but a reference to the ultimate cold, to the very core of freezing. This recalls difficult experiences, those "azmān o ayyām-e ʿasīr"; arduous and trying times and days. The ice carries the memory and narrative of these hardships.

Through this allegory, Mevlana intends to convey that every phenomenon in this world carries within itself traces of its past and origin, and inadvertently narrates it. Humanity is likewise; our presence in this world, though sometimes accompanied by the summer's warmth of heedlessness, our soul perpetually narrates its original "neyestān" (reed-bed) and "winter," and sings the melody of "separation." This narration is not meant to sadden, but to awaken, to remind us of the path of return. Those cold winds and difficult days are a metaphor for the alienation and solitude that the soul, cut off from its origin, experiences in this world, and its very being is replete with the narrative of those separations.

Key takeaways

• Even in summer, ice narrates the story of winter and its hardships, signifying a fidelity to its roots and past.
• The concepts of "cold and bitter winds" (aryāḥ-e sard o zahrīr) and "difficult times" (ayyām-e ʿasīr) symbolize the soul's alienation and separation from its origin.
• The term "Zahrīr" has roots in the Persian "zam" (cold) and denotes extreme cold, even referencing the Zoroastrian hell as a place of cold, not fire.
• Like ice, every phenomenon in the world carries the narrative of its history and origin; this narration is the ontological essence of phenomena.
• This is a "narration" (ḥikāyat), not a "complaint" (shikāyat); the soul speaks of its origin with the sound of separation, not to protest, but to remind and awaken.