M6:1019 — هم‌چنانک از چشمهٔ چشم تو نور / او روان کردست بی‌بخل و فتور

Translation: Just as light (nūr) from the fountain (chashma) of your eye (chashm) [flows], He (God) has caused it to flow without stinginess (bukhl) or weakness (futūr). Meaning: This verse uses the metaphor of light emanating from the eye to illustrate that God is the true source of all phenomena, with material elements merely serving as apparent conduits for His action.

This beyt, M6:1019, serves as a pivotal example elucidating a profound and central mystical doctrine: the Unity of Divine Action (Tawḥīd-i Afʿālī). Mowlana states with unyielding conviction and clarity that although the eye, with its intricate structure of nerves, fats, and what we might call "dark material elements," seemingly originates light and vision, the truth is that this light flows from "Him" (God). The eye is merely a rūpūsh (a covering or veil); a façade over a deeper reality. Vision, for Mowlana, is a farā-ḥissī amr (a supra-sensory phenomenon), an act of the soul, fundamentally distinct from the mere mechanical function of nerves and brain, as modern physiologists might conceive.

This analogy is a complement to, and further illustration of, the metaphor "God made the rock His shield" (aspar khūd karda ḥaq ān sang rā). Just as God uses the rock as a conduit for water to flow, so too is the eye a shield through which the light of existence manifests. I see this contrast as an enduring "challenge between ancient and modern thought," and indeed between "religious and scientific paradigms." In Mowlana's cosmological scheme, there is but one true agent in the entire universe, and that is God. Everything we superficially perceive as an agent—from fire that burns, to water that quenches, to medicine that heals—is, in my evocative metaphor, nothing more than a "glove on God's hand." The ʿārif (gnostic), with their penetrating insight and unparalleled perspicacity, "splits the glove open" and "beholds God's hands within it."

The phrase bī-bukhl-o futūr (without stinginess or weakness) in this beyt profoundly emphasizes the boundless divine generosity and power. God, entirely free from any deficiency or debility, is the ceaseless fount of existence and perception. He is perpetually active, as the Quran proclaims, "Every day He is in a [new] state" (Kullu yawmin huwa fī shaʾn), and no stinginess or weakness can ever infiltrate His actions, for such limitations are characteristic only of creation and have no place in the realm of the Necessary Being's activity.

Key takeaways

• The eye, like the spring's rock, is merely a "covering" or conduit; the true source of light and vision is God.
• This verse emphasizes the principle of "Unity of Divine Action" (Tawḥīd-i Afʿālī): God alone is the true agent in existence; other beings are merely channels for His action.
• Mowlana, by distinguishing between the soul's action and the body's function, challenges both ancient and modern views on perception.
• The phrase "without stinginess or weakness" highlights the boundless generosity and power of God, who sustains existence without flaw or debility.
• Gnostics possess the penetrating insight to perceive God's hands behind the apparent coverings of natural phenomena.