Lire› Livre 2› Le soufi conseille au serviteur de prendre soin de la bête, et l'impatience du serviteur› Verset 165
M2:165 — آن دلی کو مطلع مهتابهاست / بهر عارف فتحت ابوابهاست
M2:165
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The illuminated heart of a spiritual master is the source of divine light and the gateway to higher realities for those who can perceive it.
This couplet concludes a short digression on the nature of Sufi knowledge, contrasting it with scholastic learning. Rumi has just used the metaphor of a hunter who first tracks a deer by its footprints (gām) but is eventually guided by the scent of its musk (nāf). The footprints represent indirect, rational knowledge, while the scent represents direct, intuitive experience.
The heart of the perfected sage, or ʿārif (gnostic), is the culmination of this journey. It is not merely a passive reflector of light, but a maṭlaʿ, an active 'rising-place' or 'dawning-point' for countless 'moons'—divine illuminations and insights. For the seeker, this heart is not a barrier but a fatḥat al-abwāb, an 'opening of the gates'. Access to such a heart provides direct entry into the spiritual realities that others only read about. The next verse (M2:166) makes this explicit: what is a wall to you is a door to them; what is a stone to you is a jewel to them.
- مطلع
- An Arabic term for the 'place of rising,' typically used for celestial bodies like the sun or moon. Here, it signifies a source or dawning-point of spiritual light.
- عارف
- Arabic for 'gnostic' or 'the one who knows.' In Sufism, it refers to one who possesses direct, experiential knowledge (`maʿrifa`) of God, as distinct from a scholar (`ʿālim`) who has theoretical knowledge.
- فتحت ابواب
- Literally, 'the opening of doors' (from Arabic `fatḥ`, opening, and `abwāb`, plural of `bāb`, door). A phrase signifying a breakthrough, a revelation, or access to new realms of understanding.
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