M6:2236 — نه خیال و نه حقیقت را امان / زین چنین آتش که شعله زد ز جان

Translation: Neither imagination nor (conceptual) truth finds refuge / From such a fire that has flared up from the soul. Meaning: This verse asserts that when the immense fire of unity and love blazes forth from the depths of the soul, neither mental concepts and imaginative constructs nor even intellectual truths and acquired knowledge can withstand its intensity; it dissolves and annihilates them all.

Mowlana, whenever he encounters profound questions concerning destiny, free will, and the very nature of human existence—why one branch remains verdant while another withers, or why one tree yields sweet fruits and another bitter—delves deep into their roots. He journeys back to the primordial creation and divine predestination, wrestling with the query: are our hearts captive in the merciless grip of fate, are we merely what we were created to be, unable to transcend our given state? These meditations are so fiery and consuming that Mowlana hesitates to elaborate. He declares, "This fire is the sign; I shall cut it short," fearing that if he were to delve into such matters, the spiritual impetus he has kindled in souls might cool, leaving people mired in thoughts of destiny and halting their inward journey.

Yet, the surging spirit within Mowlana grants him no repose. Immediately following his decision to shorten his discourse, he finds himself seized by a loftier fire: "You saw a fire that consumes every sapling / Behold the soul's fire, which consumes even imagination." We have witnessed fires that ravage trees, but Mowlana now speaks of a fire that engulfs even khyāl (imagination). This is the fire of tawhīd, the fire of unity. When this fire blazes within the human soul, it obliterates and transmutes thought, imagination, reason, and all conceptual frameworks. Why? Because our minds are creators of multiplicity; from a single "table," it extracts hundreds of concepts, transforming one thing into many. Or, it apprehends God through numerous attributes. These sciences, these forms of knowledge, these definitions—all are expressions of multiplicity.

It is here that I recall a saying attributed to Imam Ali (peace be upon him): «العلم نقطةٌ کثرها الجاهلون» — "Knowledge was a single point, but the ignorant multiplied it." Those who could not grasp its unity fragmented it, hoping to comprehend it in pieces. Our intellect is a connoisseur of multiplicity; it cannot contend with pure unity. But this fire of unity consumes these multiplicities, granting "neither imagination nor truth any refuge." By "imagination" (khyāl), Mowlana refers to mental images and particular perceptions; by "truth" (haqīqat), he means general concepts, whether true or false, that we hold about things. This fire encompasses all these perceptions and mental frameworks equally, burning them away.

This is the true Resurrection, in which the entire world becomes kun fa-yakūn (be, and it is). Mowlana further elucidates this concept by referencing a Quranic verse: "It is the adversary of every lion and every fox / 'Every-thing perishes save His Face' (Q 28:88)." Whether you are a lion or a fox, this fire is your foe; it removes all these multiplicities. Everything is perishing; it is not that it will perish, but that it is perishing now. Even as it exists, it is non-existent. It possesses a dependent identity, subsisting through another. All save the "Face" (wajh) of God, which is His very essence. God has no back; all that exists is "Face." Hence, love itself is also "all face, no back," without distinct front and back.

To understand this annihilation (fanāʾ) and unity, Mowlana offers an example from the writing of Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim. In this phrase, the alif of Ism (Name) is omitted in writing and not pronounced, even though it is fundamentally present in the word's origin. This alif has become so annihilated that it is absent in calligraphy and unseen, yet it is present in meaning. This subtle metaphor illustrates how our existence, in the station of divine unity, can be annihilated and yet simultaneously present in another form. This fire of unity utterly removes all external and conventional identities, leading to pure monotheism.

Key takeaways

• The true fire is the soul's fire of unity, consuming both imagination (mental images) and (conceptual) truth.
• This fire dismantles the mind's tendency to create multiplicity and its conceptual frameworks, leading to pure unity.
• Gnostic vision (ru'yat), which perceives totality and unity, transcends conventional, fragmented knowledge ('ilm').
• All things are perishing save the Face of God, as the Quran states: "All will perish except His Face."
• This fire obliterates apparent and conventional identities, leading to absolute monotheism.
• Like the omitted alif in Bismillah, our existence in the station of absolute unity becomes annihilated, yet not devoid of meaning.