M6:731 — تا نگشتند اختران ما نهان / دانک پنهانست خورشید جهان

This couplet uses a simple, powerful astronomical metaphor to explain the core Sufi concept of fanāʾ (annihilation) as a prerequisite for baqāʾ (subsistence in God).

Rumi is interpreting the Prophetic saying, "Die before you die." This "death" is not physical but a radical transformation of consciousness. The "stars" represent the individual's attributes, ego-consciousness, sensory perceptions, and intellectual faculties — everything that constitutes the personal self, the "I" (manī). While these faculties are luminous in their own right, they are ultimately limited and belong to the "night" of ordinary existence.

The "Sun of the world" is the singular, all-encompassing divine Reality. Its presence is not an event that happens in addition to the stars; its rising is what causes their disappearance. The light of the stars is utterly overwhelmed and absorbed by the light of the sun. In the same way, the seeker cannot experience the divine Reality as long as they cling to their own individual existence. The cessation of the self is not a separate act but the very condition for the dawning of the Real. The stars do not need to be destroyed; they simply need to become invisible in a greater light.