M6:57 — این تفانی از ضد آید ضد را / چون نباشد ضد نبود جز بقا

Translation: This perishing comes from one opposite to another; / When there is no opposite, there is nothing but permanence. Meaning: This verse asserts that annihilation and decay arise from the existence of opposites, implying that in a realm free from such antagonisms, only eternal permanence prevails.

This beyt follows a profound discussion on ontology and the permanence of the soul, and I consider it, unequivocally, a complete philosophical argument by Mawlana. Here, Mawlana articulates a universal principle rooted in Peripatetic philosophy, particularly the ideas of Aristotle.

Aristotle, in demonstrating the immortality and permanence of the human soul, argued that the soul is simple and unified, not composed of opposites. Consequently, it cannot disintegrate or perish. It is our physical body, being a composite of opposites and various elements, that is subject to decay and dissolution. He posited that "whatever enters into existence can never entirely depart from existence." This means that every being, in its essence, remains; absolute annihilation is impossible. It may undergo transformation, decomposition, and recomposition, but its core remains. This Aristotelian argument serves as Mawlana's foundation, but Mawlana extends it.

He doesn't confine this principle to the soul alone but extends it to the 'other world' (the realm of the spirit, the transcendental realm). In that world, ruin and decay find no access, for ruin is the characteristic of composite beings that possess opposites. 'That world' is eternally thriving and permanent because it is devoid of the composition of opposites. He states: "This perishing comes from one opposite to another / When there is no opposite, there is nothing but permanence." He explicitly declares that 'annihilation' is the product of the confrontation of opposites; when there is no opposite to eliminate another, permanence is necessarily the outcome.

This is a pure philosophical tenet that Mawlana, even in his apparent flight from philosophy, expresses with utmost precision. We can even discern reflections of this truth in the Holy Quran's descriptions of Paradise, where rivers of honey and milk are described as "whose taste does not change" (lam yataghayyar taʿmuhu) and water that "does not stale" (lam yatasṣan). This illustrates that in that world devoid of opposites, the laws of worldly transformation and corruption are suspended. There is milk, but not of the earthly kind that sours and decays. It is, as it were, a dream-like milk, a conceptual milk, possessing stability and permanence. Thus, Mawlana, with the aid of an ancient philosophical rule, portrays a world whose essence is immune to annihilation.

Key takeaways

• The source of annihilation and decay in the material world is the existence and conflict of opposites.
• A realm without opposites, including the soul and the transcendent world, possesses an inherently stable and eternal nature.
• Despite its poetic form, this beyt offers a profound philosophical argument against absolute annihilation.
• Mawlana extends Aristotle's principle — that the soul persists due to its simplicity — to encompass the entire spiritual realm.
• Paradise and its blessings, as described in the Quran, serve as a scriptural example of a world where the laws of material transformation and decay do not apply.