M6:4135 — خیز ای نمرود پر جوی از کسان / نردبانی نایدت زین کرکسان

Translation: Rise, O Nimrod, seek much from others (to lift you up), but from these vultures, no ladder will come to you. Meaning: This verse cautions that relying on materialistic or self-serving means, like Nimrod's vultures, is futile for reaching higher spiritual realms; the true ladder to the heavens must be sought through a different path, by seeking a true spiritual guide.

In our journey of spiritual seeking and guidance, we are in dire need of a 'Pir' (guide), but not just any elder. Mawlana sharply distinguishes between a 'Pir-e Gardun'—one who is merely old in years—and a 'Pir-e Rashad'—one who has matured and reached a destination on the path of spiritual growth and guidance. Physical age is no guarantor of spiritual wisdom; true maturity lies in having traversed the path of truth. Just as we surrender to a surgeon in medicine or heed a teacher, the 'condition is submission' (sharṭ-e taslīm) in spiritual matters. Relying on self-will and limited intellect to navigate the dark paths of spirituality leads nowhere; 'it is darkness, beware of the danger of going astray.'

Our intellect is simply not built to unravel all mysteries. As Kant argued, reason falters in reaching metaphysics and the trans-natural, constantly shifting its ground. If reason alone sufficed, we would have no need for prophets and guides. The tale of Nimrod—recounted in various narratives, though his name is not in the Qur’an, his disputation with Abraham is—serves as the ultimate symbol of this self-will and hubris in attempting to ascend to the heavens. He sits on a throne, wishing to be carried to the sky by vultures to find God. This parallels Yuri Gagarin's claim of seeing no God in space, or the 19th-century French physiologist Claude Bernard's demand to see the soul under a surgeon's knife. It's like Mulla Nasruddin's anecdote of losing his money in a dark house but searching for it in the well-lit street: seeking something where it simply is not.

This verse addresses the 'heavy-souled' (garān-jān) and 'heavy-natured' (sangīn-ṭabʿ) Nimrod, telling him that with the vultures of his ego and material tools, he cannot reach the celestial spheres. Vultures do not fly to the heavens, and even if they did, is God located in a spatial heaven? The discerning Abraham offers Nimrod the true ladder: 'Abraham said to him, O man of journey, if I be your vulture, that would be better for you / When you make of me a ladder for ascent / You will rise to the heavens without flying.' The real ladder, then, is the spiritual guide who assists us in the 'spiritual journey' and the 'journey of the heart.' This is a journey undertaken without provisions or mounts, like the heart traveling from west to east, or the human senses in sleep, or the mystic's hidden path.

Mawlana views this self-reliance as a form of 'eghterab' or alienation. One who perceives oneself as merely a body is deeply alienated, akin to someone identifying with their mount—be it a cow or a camel. Our body is the 'stranger' (bīgāneh), and with this earthly body, one cannot ascend to the heavens of spirituality. The ladder to the heavens is the Pir-e Rashad, not the vultures of self-idolatry and materialism.

Key takeaways

• Spiritual journeying demands a guide; only a 'Pir-e Rashad' (spiritual master) is the ladder to the heavens, not a 'Pir-e Gardun' (merely an elder by years).
• Relying on limited intellect and material tools for discovering super-sensory truths is a Nimrod-like folly; God is not found in a spatial heaven or under a surgeon's knife.
• The condition for attaining truth is submission to the guide, not self-will and ignorant argumentation.
• The 'spiritual journey' or 'journey of the heart' is an inner voyage not achievable with material means, but requiring a guide and an awakened heart.
• Self-conceit and identification with the physical body constitute a form of 'self-alienation' (eghterab) that deprives one of finding the true ladder.