M1:401 — وز صفیری باز دام اندر کشی / جمله را در داد و در داوَر کشی

Translation: And with a whistle, You pull (them) back into the snare; You draw all into justice and into the Judge.

Meaning: God, with a single call, draws all souls that were temporarily released (as in sleep) back into the 'snare' of the body and the material world, returning them to the domain of divine justice and ultimate judgment.

In this verse, Rumi speaks of the return of souls to their bodies, orchestrated by God's call and guidance. This must be understood in the context of traditions that equate sleep with the brother of death; in sleep, the soul is freed from the body's confinement, but not permanently. God, through a 'whistle' (safir), draws these liberated souls back into the 'snare' (dām) of the body and the world.

I find this imagery remarkably vivid: it is as if God whistles to birds that were granted temporary leave, summoning them back to their trap. The 'snare' here is a metaphor for this physical casing and the material world, in which the soul is temporarily held. This return is a re-entry into the realm of 'justice and the Judge' (dād o dāvar); meaning, every morning as the soul returns to the body, it re-enters the arena of deeds and responsibilities, coming under the divine order of justice and judgment.

Rumi elsewhere likens the soul to a horse and the body to a saddle: ”He divests the horses of souls of their saddles; this is the secret of 'sleep is the brother of death.'” At night, the saddle (body) is removed from the horse (soul), and the soul attains a degree of freedom. But in the morning, the saddle is placed back upon the horse. This verse reiterates the point that this temporary separation is a divine plan to prepare the soul for a renewed return and to continue its journey of evolution in this world.

Although great mystics like Abdul-Quddus Gangohi (as quoted by Iqbal Lahori) wished they would never return if they ascended to a spiritual zenith, and Rumi himself occasionally laments this 'storm of waking and awareness,' wishing his soul could be preserved forever like the Companions of the Cave, it is crucial to understand that this verse points to the reality of the cycle of life and temporary death (sleep), which is itself part of God's wisdom. This return to the snare, while it might bring a certain burden to the searching soul, undoubtedly serves a divine purpose: the continuation of the journey towards the Truth and the experience of divine justice and judgment, where no deed goes unaccounted for.

Key takeaways

• Sleep is the brother of death: a temporary separation of soul from body, divinely orchestrated.
• The 'divine whistle' (safir) is the summons for the soul's return to the body and the world.
• The 'snare' (dām) symbolizes the body and the material world, to which the soul must return.
• The soul's return to the world signifies re-entry into the arena of deeds and divine judgment.
• This cycle of return is part of the soul's journey of evolution towards the Divine.