M6:588 — خوابناکی کو ز یقظت می‌جهد / دایهٔ وسواس عشوه‌ش می‌دهد

Translation: The sleepy one who flees from awakening (yaqẓat), The wet nurse of waswās (temptation) seduces him with coquetry. Meaning: This verse speaks of a person who is momentarily stirred towards spiritual awakening but is then lured back into slumber by the seductive whisperings of doubt and temptation.

Here, Mowlana speaks of the 'sleepy one' (khāb-nāk), one immersed in heedlessness. The crucial point is that this individual experiences a sudden, momentary leap towards 'yaqẓat'—awakening. A fleeting will to awaken arises within him. This is an erratic, abrupt stirring, not a complete and sustained awakening.

But alas, this nascent awakening is immediately targeted by waswās (temptation, doubt). Mowlana likens waswās to a 'wet nurse' (dāyeh) who approaches this half-awake soul with 'coquetry' (ʿashveh). A wet nurse typically nurtures and soothes, but this particular wet nurse, that of waswās, comes not to foster growth but to deceive and return one to sleep. She whispers to this sleepy soul: 'Go to sleep, my dear, we won't let anyone wake you up from sleep.' This waswās, with a soft and alluring voice, calls him back to his former heedlessness, assuring him that he is safe in this slumber and has no need for striving or awakening.

This narrative illustrates that one of the greatest perils on the path of spiritual journeying is precisely these momentary, unstable awakenings that can easily fall prey to waswās. Waswās exploits the role of the compassionate caregiver, feigning solicitude to divert the individual from their primary, foundational task towards trivial, fruitless endeavors. Just as Mowlana speaks elsewhere of 'learned polymaths' (ʿālemān-e dhū-fonūn) who believe they are busy but whose souls are 'drowned in idleness,' so too here, true awakening is a fundamental task that waswās strives to obstruct.

Mowlana then brilliantly describes a thirsty person who hears the call of water: 'I am the sound of water to the thirsty / I arrive from the sky like rain.' The Beloved declares Himself as the 'sound of water,' descending from the heavens of grace, calling to the thirsty. But if one claims thirst, and the sound of water reaches his ear, yet he still sleeps—what kind of thirst is this? 'Rise, O lover, summon your agitation / The sound of water, and a thirsty one, and then sleep?' This clearly indicates that his thirst is false; if there were a true longing, he would never fall asleep. Waswās does precisely this: it extinguishes genuine fervor and keeps the false claimants in the bed of heedlessness.

The example Mowlana immediately provides after these verses is the story of a lover and his beloved. The beloved visits the sleeping lover, fills his pocket with walnuts, and departs. These walnuts symbolize infancy and childishness. It implies, 'You are not yet ready for true love and union; you are still at the stage of childish walnut-play.' This waswās and its seduction perform the same function for the seeker that the beloved did for the sleeping lover: it keeps him in a state of spiritual immaturity and heedlessness, preventing him from reaching true maturity and union.

Key takeaways

• Unstable spiritual awakenings are easily preyed upon by doubt (waswās) and heedlessness.
• Temptation (waswās) acts as a deceptive wet nurse, lulling the soul back to sleep.
• Persisting in slumber, even when hearing the 'call of water' (the summons of truth), indicates a false spiritual thirst.
• Abandoning one's 'primary task' for 'secondary distractions' is a key tactic of waswās.
• The symbol of 'walnuts' signifies that slumbering souls are still in spiritual infancy, far from true union.