M6:3112 — فر فردوسیست این پالیز را / شعشعهٔ عرشیست این تبریز را

Translation: This garden holds a Ferdowsian Farr (divine glory); This Tabriz is an emanation of the Divine Throne's radiance. Meaning: Rumi describes the world as a glorious garden and the city of Tabriz as a core of divine light, both serving as loci for the manifestations of God's grandeur and beauty.

When we look at the world, sometimes we see it as an act of an agent, an effect of a cause, deducing fire from smoke. But at other times, we cultivate an eye that transforms the world into a mirror for us – a mirror of divine beauty. In this station, we no longer reason; rather, we directly encounter the Face and Beauty itself. We see the whole in the part, and observe that grand beauty in this small mirror.

When Rumi says, "This garden holds a Ferdowsian Farr (divine glory)," it means that this palīz (garden), which can symbolize the world or any spiritual domain, possesses a majesty and splendor reminiscent of the Farr-e Īzadī and Farr-e Kiyāni found in Ferdowsi's Shahnameh. This Farr is a divine bestowal, an ethereal grace granted to specific beings or places, distinguishing them in a unique manner. It is a manifestation of divine glory, an eternal splendor reflected in this earthly realm.

Then he states, "This Tabriz is an emanation of the Divine Throne's radiance." Here, Tabriz is not merely a geographical city but a symbol of the locus of divine manifestations, particularly given the presence of Shams-e Tabrizi, who was himself a source of light and inspiration for Rumi. This verse signifies that Tabriz, or what it symbolizes, possesses a celestial glow and a radiance directly originating from the higher realm and the Divine Throne (ʾArsh). This testifies that this city, or its symbolic representation, is a focal point for a sacred and divine light.

I have previously noted that this metaphor of the world as a mirror is a profoundly important and foundational concept in Sufism, found prominently in the works of Muhyiddin Ibn al-ʿArabi, who was a contemporary of Rumi. Rumi himself frequently employed this concept. Later mystics, such as Sheikh Mahmud Shabestari, who lived about a century after Rumi in the vicinity of Tabriz and whose works blend Rumi's and Ibn al-ʿArabi's ideas, also greatly emphasized this point. In his Gulshan-e Raz, he writes: "Non-being is the mirror of Being absolute / From which is manifest the reflection of Truth's radiance." These quiddities or fixed archetypes in God's knowledge are mirrors of divine beauty, and God manifests through them.

Thus, this world is a reflection of God's Being. God has shone into the mirror, and His countenance, which is His reflection, has become manifest in this world. This Ferdowsian Farr and this celestial radiance are all signs of that divine light, reflected from every being according to its capacity and expanse. This multiplicity in the world is the manifestation of that primordial unity—becoming many from one. Both this 'garden' and 'Tabriz' are manifestations of that radiance, beckoning hearts towards the origin and source of light.

Key takeaways

• The world and its every manifestation serve as a mirror for perceiving divine beauty and majesty, not merely as an effect from which to deduce a cause.
• The concept of 'Ferdowsian Farr' signifies the divine glory and splendor bestowed upon certain phenomena and beings in the world.
• Tabriz in this verse symbolizes a locus of sacred and divine light, particularly in connection with the spiritual station of Shams-e Tabrizi.
• The presence of 'celestial radiance' emphasizes the direct link between this world and its sacred origin, the wellspring of existence.
• This couplet views the apparent multiplicity of the world as a manifestation and reflection of primordial unity, where the singular light reveals itself in diverse forms.