M6:111 — دست و پا مریخ چندین خست ازو / وآن عطارد صد قلم بشکست ازو

Translation: Mars, with all its might, lost its hands and feet for it, And Mercury, with all its pens, broke a hundred of them for it. Meaning: This verse illustrates that in the face of absolute, transcendent truth, even the most formidable natural forces and the keenest intellectual tools become ineffectual and humbled.

As I have frequently asserted in my lectures, Rumi, in the Masnavi, often employs what he himself calls 'poetry.' This does not imply an absence of truth in his words; rather, it signifies his use of artistic, metaphorical language to articulate truths that transcend the confines of ordinary discourse and analytical thought. This particular couplet is a prime example, describing the 'star without direction' or the formless Divine Reality.

This star, or this radiant Divine Light, possesses such an allure and grandeur that even the celestial spheres and planets, themselves symbols of power and order in the sensible world, humbly submit to it, abandoning their usual nature and functions. This is not an astronomical statement but a profound mystical metaphor.

Mars, in astrological and literary traditions, symbolizes war, wrath, and fortitude; a sword-wielding star associated with breaking limbs and combat. Yet, what does Rumi say? He states that this very Mars, yearning for union with that supreme Truth, 'lost its hands and feet for it.' This means Mars itself is broken and incapacitated, or, put differently, it has sacrificed itself and ceased its normal function in pursuit of that Reality. This demonstrates the ultimate humility and helplessness of even the most potent forces before the Absolute.

And Mercury, the planet symbolizing intellect, writing, knowledge, and the art of the pen. It inspires scribes and authors, embodying the faculty of thought and reason. But before the 'star without direction,' 'it broke a hundred pens.' This means that in the realm of existence Rumi describes, the pen of intellect and thought shatters, ceasing to write or even to ponder. What could it write? What could it ponder? In that realm where 'all is pure light,' there is no unknown to be transformed into knowledge, and thus no need for thought or pen. Thought, as the late Mulla Hadi Sabzevari elucidated, is a 'movement towards principles and from principles towards objectives,' a movement from the unknown to the known. However, in the presence of the Divine, which is knowledge itself and utterly free from ignorance, this intellectual movement becomes impossible. Mercury, with all its pens, is rendered impotent, for formless Truth cannot be written or conceived; it must be attained.

This is where Rumi distinguishes the rank of divine truths from philosophical and scientific truths. Philosophy and science advance through thought and pen, dealing with concepts. However, in the realm of mysticism and unmediated vision, both thought and pen become useless. This is the crucial point Rumi immediately makes after these verses: 'Where is thought? There, all is pure light. This word 'thought' is for you, O thoughtful one.' He does not even name God as 'thoughtful' (mutafakkir) or 'rational' (ʿāqil), because these attributes presuppose the existence of an unknown or a need for an intellectual journey to discover truth, whereas in the divine essence, there is nothing but absolute light and infinite knowledge. This couplet, through unparalleled poetic imagery, reminds us of this very truth: the higher realm is not one of thought, debate, and pen, but one of presence and light.

Key takeaways

• The formless Divine Truth transcends all intellectual comprehension or material power.
• In confronting the Absolute, even the most powerful natural forces (Mars) and intellectual tools (Mercury) become ineffectual.
• Intellect and the pen (symbolizing Mercury) lose their function in the realm of pure Truth, which is entirely light.
• Rumi employs 'poetry' here to articulate mystical truths that cannot be captured by astronomical or scientific statements.
• These verses emphasize the limitations of human thought and knowledge when facing absolute existence, negating the concept of 'thought' in the higher realm.