M6:2546 — هم‌چو این خامان با طبل و علم / که الاقانیم در فقر و عدم

Translation: Like these ignorant ones, with drum and banner, / who claim, "We are messengers (alaqanim) in poverty (faqr) and non-being (adam)." Meaning: This verse critiques false mystics and religious pretenders who use outward fanfare to claim spiritual authority and gnosis, despite being inwardly hollow and devoid of true understanding.

In this verse, Mowlana—and I, in my reading—vigorously attacks the phenomenon of false spirituality and baseless claims. The khāmān, meaning 'ignorant' or 'immature ones,' are those who have tasted nothing of true gnosis yet present themselves as its representatives. They appear with tabl o 'alam (drum and banner), a metaphor Mowlana often uses for beggars who make much noise and display their destitution to solicit alms. Mowlana extends this to those who, through fanfare and boasting, conceal their inner emptiness and ignorance. It is the very essence of 'much sound from an empty dome,' as the poet Sa'eb put it, a sentiment echoed in the Masnavi: where there is much clamor, there is often an emptier core.

These pretenders call themselves alaqānīm. This is a profoundly ambivalent term that Mowlana uses with utmost disdain. While it can mean 'messengers' or 'ambassadors,' it is simultaneously a bitter, mocking reference to 'donkeys,' signifying the sheer ignorance and foolishness of these claimants. They declare themselves emissaries and representatives of faqr (spiritual poverty, Sufism) and adam (non-being, the realm of gnosis and union with the Divine). That is, these braggarts, through their bluster, assert that they have attained union with God and are guides on the path of gnosis, when in fact they possess nothing but 'immaturity' and 'nothingness.'

Sadly, this is an unfortunate tradition that has persisted throughout history, not only in Islam but also in Christianity and Judaism. Wherever religion has taken root, these afflictions have followed. These are the same individuals who, with false claims—such as experiencing strange dreams or meeting saints and prophets—have maintained their market. Mowlana explicitly speaks here of 'boasting of being a sheikh' (laf-i sheikhi) and 'making oneself like Bayazid.' Once they called themselves 'Bayazid,' today they adorn themselves with grandiose titles like 'Ayatollah' or 'Allameh'; the essence of the matter remains unchanged. It is this very boasting, in my view, that has historically made religion 'fat,' 'swollen,' and 'inflated,' distancing it from its initial simplicity and purity. The Prophet himself declared, 'I was sent with an easy, lenient religion.' Yet, these claimants have burdened religion with unnecessary rituals, superstitions, and jurisprudence, making it repellent.

This verse serves as a prelude to Mowlana's exquisite parable: 'The groom's house is full of chaos and evil, / But the bride's family has no news.' These claimants see themselves as the 'groom' and 'master' of the world of gnosis, yet from the 'bride's family'—that is, from the ultimate Reality and the Eternal Beloved—no message, no news arrives; these claims receive no response. They write letters and boast, but from that other side, 'Did any answer reach you from that vicinity? No.' This lack of response is the greatest proof of the emptiness of their claims. They boast of secret connections with the dwellers of the Empyrean, while openly greedy for wealth, power, and followers. Mowlana, with this tone full of revulsion, shows how much he despises these empty-headed, deceptive pretenders. He, who kept himself far from such 'shopkeepers,' implicitly states that 'If I possessed intellect and means, / Like the sheikhs, I too would be at the head of a shop.' That is, if I were inclined to such shopkeeping and trickery, I would sit at my stall and amass means for myself. This verse is not only a critique of the false Sufis of Mowlana's time but an eternal critique of all forms of pretense and hypocrisy in the guise of religion and gnosis.

Key takeaways

• Outward display of power and piety without inner truth is a facade of ignorance.
• Much noise and boasting are indicators of inner emptiness and lack of true gnosis.
• False claimants of religion and mysticism, through their exaggerated claims, distance religion from its true simplicity.
• Mowlana vehemently despises charlatanism and 'shopkeeping' in the guise of religion.
• The indifference of Truth (the Eternal Beloved) to false claims is the greatest proof of their futility.
• This critique by Mowlana is an eternal satire against all forms of hypocrisy in the realm of religion and spirituality.