M1:406 — لیک بهر آنک روز آیند باز / بر نهد بر پایشان بندِ دراز

Translation: But so that they (the souls) may return by day, He places a long tether upon their feet. Meaning: This verse explains why souls, temporarily liberated in sleep, must return to their bodies upon waking: God places a constraining tether on them, ensuring their re-embodiment.

This couplet follows Mowlana's description of sleep as the brother of death, wherein the soul is likened to a horse and the body to its saddle. In sleep, the saddle is removed, and the soul experiences a temporary liberation. But why is this freedom not eternal? Mowlana answers precisely in this beyt: 'But so that they (the souls) may return by day, / He places a long tether upon their feet.' This 'long tether' is an allusion to the divine decree and will, which mandates the soul's return to the body each morning, thereby perpetuating the daily cycle of life and waking consciousness.

The profound significance of this beyt emerges immediately in the verses that follow, where Mowlana expresses his deepest yearning: 'Would that, like the People of the Cave, this soul / You had preserved, or like Noah's Ark, / So that from this tempest of waking and awareness / This consciousness, and these eyes and ears, might be delivered!' Here, Mowlana laments this divine compulsion to return to the body. This lament is the cry of the gnostic (ʿarif) who, having tasted temporary liberation, can no longer bear the return to the prison of the body and the sensory world.

As I have often remarked, this yearning bears a striking resemblance to the words of Abdul-Quddus Gangohi, as quoted by Iqbal Lahori: 'The Prophet ascended to the miʿrāj and returned. Had it been me, by God, I would not have returned.' This encapsulates the essence of the mystical path, distinct from the prophetic one. Prophets ascend and return to guide humanity. Gnostics, however, once they taste union, yearn for permanent dwelling in that state. Mowlana here explicitly articulates his desire to not remain in the world of waking and the body. The 'long tether' that God places on the soul, though necessary for the continuation of life in this world, is for Mowlana a reminder of a temporary cage and captivity from which he wishes to be eternally free. This tether signifies the continuation of worldly life's cycle, which the gnostic soul finds sorrowful, wishing to remain, like the People of the Cave, in an eternal sleep within the divine mystery, liberated from the world. His soul, like a horse yearning to remain in the pasture, longs for release from this divine decree that binds it back to the burden of the body.

Key takeaways

• Through a 'long tether' of divine decree, God necessitates the soul's return to the body after the temporary liberation of sleep.
• Sleep is a metaphor for death, and this beyt illustrates the continuation of the cycle of life and waking.
• Immediately after this verse, Mowlana expresses his profound wish for the soul to not return to the body, akin to the People of the Cave.
• This yearning signifies the gnostic's desire for permanent residence in the unseen realm, free from bodily constraints.
• This represents the core of the mystical path, which differs from the prophetic trajectory of ascent and return for guidance.