M6:2013 — چون بخواهم کز سرت آهی کنم / چون علی سر را فرو چاهی کنم

Translation: If I desire to heave a sigh from your secret's depth, / I would, like Ali, lower my head into a well. Meaning: Rumi expresses that the profound and sacred nature of the secrets related to Husam al-Din is such that he finds no human worthy of hearing them. Therefore, he would resort to confiding in a well, just as Imam Ali (A.S.) is fabled to have done with his personal sorrows.

This beyt reveals a profound and often overlooked dimension of Rumi's personality: the realm of 'silence' and 'secrecy.' I have, in my lectures, repeatedly stressed that Rumi—contrary to popular belief—is not one to complain; he is a narrator of separations, not a lamenter. However, this verse uncovers a very specific exception, or rather, a need for revelation that Rumi himself deems beyond the capacity of ordinary listeners.

Here, Rumi, in the throes of a passionate and epistemic outburst, addresses Husam al-Din Chalabi. He first alludes to the envious individuals, likening them to 'gul-pāra' (clods of clay) attempting to obscure the sun of Husam al-Din's existence. Against these petty disparagements, Rumi extols Husam's grandeur and luminosity, stating that 'rubies' in the heart of the mountain and 'gardens' bursting with laughter bear witness to this sun. After extolling Husam al-Din's capacity and greatness, Rumi reaches the climax of his discourse: 'Where is a Rostam to be the confidant of your manliness, that I might speak one grain out of a hundred harvests?' This is where the issue of 'secret' and the 'absence of a confidant' emerges.

I have previously noted that Rumi, unlike existentialist thinkers who lament 'loneliness,' is concerned with 'separation' (judāʾī)—separation from the origin, yet even in separation, he is companioned by the Beloved. But in this beyt, the discourse is about a very particular 'secret' (rāz), a secret that transcends even that general 'separation' and pertains to the unique and sacred nature of his relationship with Husam al-Din. Rumi declares that if he wishes to heave a sigh from the depths of this secret, from this boundless love he holds for Husam al-Din, he finds no confidant. This secret is of a kind that demands a 'chest torn to pieces by separation' (M1:3), yet even a 'torn chest' might lack the capacity to comprehend this specific secret.

Here, Rumi alludes to the famous anecdote of Imam Ali (A.S.); a tradition states that whenever deep sorrows afflicted his heart and he found no one worthy of his confidences, he would lean his head into a well and confide his heart's secrets to that silent companion. This allegory, for Rumi, symbolizes the ultimate lack of a confidant. When the greatest speaker of his time finds himself in such a position—that to speak 'the secret of your essence' (rāz-i sar-at, referring to Husam al-Din's inner truth and the connection with him) he must resort to a well—it signifies that some spiritual experiences are so unique and profound that they transcend the scope of human language and common understanding.

This inability to articulate is not a sign of Rumi's weakness, but rather speaks to the grandeur and sacredness of the 'secret.' The 'breath' that enters the reed is reflected only to the extent of the reed's capacity (as Rumi says elsewhere: The breath that the reed-player blew into the reed / Is according to the reed's capacity, not the player's). Yet here, it seems even the reed-like capacity of Rumi's own being is limited in transmitting this 'secret.' This is the 'compulsory silence' that prophets and mystics are forced into when encountering truths beyond collective comprehension. Rumi, on one hand, is the 'Tongue of Truth' commanding 'listen,' but on the other, in the face of certain truths, 'lowers his head into a well'; as if for that which is 'unspeakable,' only the bottomless well can serve as a confidant.

Key takeaways

• The profound and unique spiritual connection between Rumi and Husam al-Din Chalabi.
• The feeling of lacking a worthy confidant for sacred and specific truths.
• Resorting to a well (like Ali) as a symbol of safeguarding secrets and the inability to articulate them publicly.
• Some mystical experiences transcend the capacity of language and ordinary human comprehension.
• Secrets become unspeakable not due to fear, but because of their immense grandeur and sacredness.