M6:3755 — لیک آن سر پیش این ضالان گم / می‌دهد داد سری از راه دم

Translation: But that Head, before these lost wanderers, Still renders the Head's due, even through the path of the Tail. Meaning: Even those who are misguided and fail to seek the Absolute directly still receive a share of its grace and bounty, albeit through circuitous or lesser paths.

This couplet unveils another layer of Rumi’s profound ontological and theological worldview. Here, Rumi employs the metaphor of 'head' (sar) and 'tail' (dom) to explain the relationship between Absolute Reality (the Formless, bi-surat) and its manifested forms (surat-hā). As I have repeatedly stressed, creation, for Rumi, is an act of sheer generosity (karam), not mere justice (ʿadl), because the very potentialities and capacities of beings arise without any prior deserving. Hence, divine beneficence and grace permeate the entire cosmos.

Often, people seek their perfection and sustenance from forms, approaching a 'needy one' at the door of another 'needy one,' mistakenly believing these forms can fulfill them: 'If a form seeks perfection from another form / That is the very essence of misguidance.' Rumi calls this 'begging from a beggar.' Yet, even amidst such misguidance, that Formless 'Head' does not withhold its generosity. 'That Head' refers to the Absolute Reality, the boundless source of existence, which is Formless but manifests itself in countless forms. This Head, even for the 'ḍallān-i gum'—the 'lost wanderers' who do not know or pursue the direct path and cling only to the 'tail' of forms—does not cease its bestowal.

'Still renders the Head's due, even through the path of the Tail' means that the grace and bounty of the Head reach these misguided ones even through the 'tail'—that is, through indirect, incomplete, or even crooked paths. Rumi here points to a truth that resonates in practical wisdom: sometimes people attain benefits and advantages through secondary tools and manifestations, or even through detours, which ultimately originate from that same primary source—the fount of grace and existence. This point eloquently illustrates the vastness of divine mercy and generosity, which leaves no one deprived, not even those who, consciously or unconsciously, have strayed from the straight path. This generosity encompasses all.

Rumi further states: 'One receives that bounty from the Head, another from the Tail.' This means one group benefits from the 'head,' another from the 'tail,' but both ultimately draw from the same principal source. This is akin to the anecdote I sometimes recount, attributed to a Japanese diplomat regarding 'America as a wild cow': 'We know America is a wild cow, but we hold its udders and milk it; you, however, hold its horns and fight it!' This is an interesting analogy for how one can interact with a manifest reality; some exploit it productively, while others contend with it.

But there is yet another group: 'Another folk lost both head and foot.' These are the mystics and those who have attained union, who have transcended both head and tail—and indeed all forms—and have become annihilated in pure Formlessness. 'When all was lost, all was found.' This is the highest station, where, by losing the self and all forms, one merges with the Absolute Reality and embraces everything. This is the culmination of the spiritual journey, where the formed droplet unites with the Formless ocean and itself becomes formless. This couplet, in the midst of this journey of spiritual progress, reveals the expansive generosity of God and that no one is deprived of the table of His bounty, even if the path they choose is not the most direct.

Key takeaways

• Creation is founded upon God's absolute generosity, not on the merits of creatures.
• Seeking perfection from forms is a misguidance; absolute perfection stems solely from the Formless (Absolute Reality).
• Even the misguided, who do not know the direct path, receive divine grace through indirect routes (the 'tail').
• Divine generosity is all-encompassing, depriving no one of its bounty.
• The highest spiritual station involves annihilation in the Absolute Formless, transcending all particular forms (head and tail).