M6:3303 — حاش لله تو برونی زین جهان / هم به وقت زندگی هم این زمان

Translation: God forbid! You are beyond this world, Both during your life and now, in this moment.

Meaning: This verse emphatically declares that the addressed individual, both in life and in death, transcended the material world, possessing an essence beyond space and time.

This verse is uttered by the debtor to the deceased, generous muhtasib; yet, Rumi swiftly elevates this worldly figure beyond an earthly station, placing him among the awliya Allah, the friends of God. The phrase "Hāsha Lillāh" (God forbid!) here is a categorical denial, refuting the notion that the individual in question was ever truly confined by this mortal world. I would argue: he was fundamentally not of this temporal realm; his essence and core being lay beyond space and time. How can one claim he has departed this world, when he was never fully immersed in it to begin with?

As Amir al-Mu'minin Ali (peace be upon him) profoundly stated in his discourse with Kumayl, the awliya Allah are those whose "feet are on the ground, yet their spirits are suspended in the Highest Assembly." Their souls are perpetually connected to the celestial realm, even during their earthly existence. They lead a dual life, or more precisely, a singular life where their terrestrial aspect is merely a shadow of their heavenly reality. Death, in this context, is nothing more than the lifting of a thin veil, allowing them to fully rejoin their origin, the Sun of Being, and become entirely luminous.

It is from this vantage point that Rumi introduces his recurring doctrine: the body possesses no true identity or significance; it holds no real position or substance within the realm of ultimate realities. "A bird flies in the air of the unseen, / Its shadow falls upon the earth." The truth is, what we perceive on the ground are but shadows of beings whose true essence resides in the heavens. Because we are earthly and our gaze is fixed solely on the mundane, we mistake these shadows for realities—an allegory derived from Plato's Cave, reiterated often in the Masnavi. Therefore, the one addressed in this verse is not merely interred in a grave; rather, from the very beginning, he transcended the confines of this material world.

Key takeaways

• The station of the awliya Allah (friends of God) transcends the confines of space and time; their essence is not of this material world.
• The earthly life of the awliya is a mere shadow of their exalted spiritual reality, which remains perpetually connected to the Highest Assembly.
• For such individuals, death is not an exit from the world, but the lifting of a thin veil between the soul and its divine origin.
• The body holds no independent or permanent identity; what we perceive on earth are but shadows of higher realities.