M6:4129 — آنچنان که می‌رود شب ز اغتراب / حس مردم شهرها در وقت خواب

Translation: Just as night departs due to estrangement (or self-alienation), So too do the senses of city-dwellers travel in sleep. Meaning: This verse uses the familiar phenomenon of senses traveling in dreams to illustrate the soul's capacity for non-physical journey, implicitly critiquing the human tendency to identify solely with the physical body.

Mowlana here offers an illustration, a parable, to show that the journeys undertaken by the heart—as he previously noted, 'without provisions or mount, the heart like lightning'—are travels that require no material vehicle or instruments. This verse provides another such example: just as people's senses, when they fall asleep, detach from the body and travel through the cities of imagination and dreams, without taking a single step or needing any conveyance, so too can the soul and heart journey.

The word ightirāb (اغتراب) is deeply significant here. In archaic usage, it meant 'to become a stranger' or 'to go to a foreign land.' However, with his characteristic profundity, Mowlana links this word to the notion of 'self-alienation.' I am one hundred percent convinced that Mowlana intended this deeper meaning as well. He employs this concept to critique materialism and naturalism. He argues that if a person considers themselves to be solely this mortal, earthly body, they have fallen into self-alienation. All materialists, all naturalists, and even many contemporary neuroscientists are, in the true sense of the word, alienated from themselves; they have mistaken themselves for their bodies, believing they are this body, when in fact they are not. This body is our true 'stranger,' not the essence of our being. As Mowlana states: 'Who is the stranger? Your earthly body, / for whose sake is your sorrow?'

Therefore, this verse presents us with an everyday, accessible example of the independence of the senses and the soul from the material body. When we sleep, our senses become 'estranged' from this body, or, to put it another way, become alienated from it, embarking on a journey in the realm of imagination. This itself is a sign that our essence is something beyond this physical form. This daily phenomenon of sleep confirms the truth that the journey of the heart and soul does not require the vultures of Nāmrood or the rockets of our age. It is a journey that is possible only by surrendering to a spiritual guide and opening the eye of the heart, not with material tools that can only discover what is tangible in the sensory world.

Key takeaways

• The journey of senses in sleep attests to the independent movement and freedom of the soul from bodily constraints.
• The concept of ightirāb (estrangement) in this verse carries the profound meaning of 'self-alienation,' mistaking the self for the body.
• The earthly body is a 'stranger' with whom we are temporarily associated, not the truth of our being.
• Material tools (like Nāmrood's vultures) are incapable of comprehending or undertaking spiritual journeys.
• Sleep is an everyday experience demonstrating that the essence of our existence transcends physical sensations.