M6:3640 — بهر این فرمود با آن اسپه او / حیث ولیتم فثم وجهه

Translation: For this did He say to that host: / "Wherever you turn, there is His Face." Meaning: Citing a direct Quranic verse, Mowlana stresses the absolute and omnipresent nature of God, asserting that for awakened eyes, the divine countenance is manifest in every direction.

Mowlana's profound statement here emerges directly from his narration of Zulaikha's stratagem to ensnare Yusuf, where she filled her chambers with her own images. Mowlana, however, makes an instantaneous and immense mystical leap from this analogy, declaring that God has created the world in a similar fashion, yet not for deception, but for manifestation and revelation. This cosmos, then, is a mirror reflecting the Divine Beauty, with God having adorned every wall and corner of the universe with His own likeness.

Unquestionably, humanity itself serves as God's most perfect and grandest mirror, fully reflecting His beauty. In this verse, Mowlana emphatically—and with recourse to explicit Quranic injunction—proclaims: "Ḥaythmā wallaytū fa thamma wajhuh" (Wherever you turn, there is His Face). This Wajh Allah (Face of God) is not to be understood as a physical or corporeal countenance, but rather as the very Essence and absolute Presence of the Divine. God possesses neither front nor back; as Mowlana insists, "God is entirely 'face'; He has no 'back'." Therefore, in whichever direction we turn, God Himself is present there.

For the "clear-sighted" and the lovers, this world is entirely a theatre of God's manifestation. In every creature and every named entity they behold, they "graze in the gardens of Divine Beauty," meaning they witness the beauty of God in all things. Indeed, true religiosity, as I have often said, is to "open a window" to God, and, more profoundly, to perceive every object and phenomenon as a window or aperture through which God's head has appeared, revealing Himself.

This deep understanding illuminates the fundamental difference between the lover and the non-lover. The one who is not a lover, upon gazing into the water (the mirror of the world), "sees their own face." Self-regard and ego form a formidable veil, obstructing the vision of the Divine Face. The lover, however, after their own image has been consumed and annihilated in the Beloved, no longer sees themselves; rather, they "behold the beauty of God in the face of the houri." This means that even in the most exquisite manifestations of beauty, they perceive nothing but God.

Here, Mowlana speaks of God's Ghayrat (divine possessiveness or jealousy). This divine Ghayrat is not human envy, but a tremendous "partner-consuming" force (sherkat-sūz) that tolerates no rival. God's Ghayrat allows no other beloved or worshipped entity to exist in the world, nor any beauty to be seen save His own. This is the essence of "His Ghayrat left no 'other' in the world / Hence, He became the very essence of all things." This implies that by fiercely asserting His exclusivity over all 'otherness', He consumed all 'others' and became the 'eye' or the intrinsic reality of everything. It is this love, this ʿIshq, that acts as the alchemist, transforming even a devil into a Gabriel, for it creates absolute purity and annihilates all 'otherness'.

Key takeaways

• God created the world as a mirror to manifest His own beauty, with His face (Wajh Allah) evident in every direction.
• Wajh Allah signifies the absolute essence and ubiquitous presence of God, manifest throughout existence.
• This world serves not for deception, but for divine manifestation; every object is a window to God.
• Love removes the veil of ego and self-regard, enabling the perception of God's face alone.
• Divine Ghayrat (possessiveness) is 'partner-consuming,' eliminating all 'otherness' so that only His beauty is ultimately seen.
• Citing the Quran, Mowlana posits that seeing God in every direction is essential for clear, loving sight.