M1:612 — لذّت هستی نمودی نیست را / عاشق خود کرده بودی نیست را

Translation: You (God) showed the delight of Being to non-being, You made non-being enamored of Yourself. Meaning: This couplet asserts that God revealed the joy of existence to contingent beings (who are 'non-being' relative to the Absolute) and, through this very act, made these 'non-beings' fall in love with the Divine Essence.

This beyt appears amidst those luminous verses of the Masnavi where Rumi articulates the 'existential hollowness of humanity' and, concurrently, our 'foundational love' for the source of all being. As I have always emphasized, Rumi's choice of the ney (reed) as a symbol for himself and for all human beings is an admission of his own 'non-ness' (na) and essential finitude. In comparison to Absolute Being, we are fundamentally a 'non-being,' possessing no independent reality, standing on no ground of our own. We are existentially hollow. It is here that Rumi unequivocally states:

"We are non-beings, and You are the manifest existence / You are the Absolute Being, our very being."

And immediately following this foundational declaration, he presents this couplet: "You revealed the delight of Being to non-being / You made non-being enamored of Yourself." What does this truly signify? It means that God made us, who were essentially 'non-being,' taste and perceive the delight of existence. This 'showing' (nemūdan) is not merely a passive display, but an active 'bestowal' and 'creation.' He infused within us the very delight of being. And what was the outcome of this divine grant of existence and its joy? That 'non-being' (meaning, contingent existence) became enamored of 'Absolute Being.' This love is not coercive or merely volitional; it is an intrinsic, primordial love, an inherent consequence of receiving existence and its pleasure from the ultimate Source of Being. Existence itself, coupled with the sweet taste of being, stands as evidence of the eternal affection that binds 'non-being' to 'Being.'

I call this Tawhid Af'ali — the Unity of Acts; meaning that every act emanating from us ultimately originates from Him. Rumi himself elucidates this concept with the metaphor of the 'lion on the flag' (shīr-i ʿalam): we are like the lion emblazoned on a banner, and our 'charge' (the flag's movement) stems from the 'wind' (God's hidden presence). "Our attack is from the wind, moment by moment / Our attack is manifest, and the wind is unseen." This implies that we are but a locus for the manifestation of divine action. Thus, our delight in existence and our love for Him are entirely from His 'bestowal' (dād) and 'creation' (ījād). Therefore, immediately after this beyt, he says: "Do not withdraw the delight of Your bounty," meaning this continuous giving and this taste of delight are perpetual, and the continuation of our existence and love depends on this ceaseless grace and favor.

This is, in essence, Rumi's answer to the question of the meaning of existence and the purpose of creation. Existence arose from non-being to taste its own delight, and this tasting ultimately leads to love for the source of that delight. This is not determinism, but the truth of divine omnipotence and sustained guardianship, as Rumi himself stated: "This is not determinism; this is the meaning of the All-Compelling / And mention of the All-Compelling is for lamentation (and humility)."

Key takeaways

• Human existence, when compared to the absolute divine Being, is regarded as 'non-being' or 'nothingness.'
• God bestowed the delight of existence upon this 'non-being,' and this granting of being inherently fostered intrinsic love in contingent beings for the Necessary Being.
• Human love for God is a natural and innate consequence of God's making us taste the delight of existence, rather than an acquired or imposed emotion.
• This couplet expounds on the concept of Tawhid Af'ali (Unity of Acts): every motion and every existence originates from God, and we are merely loci for the manifestation of His action.
• The foundation of our existence and our love is the continuous divine 'bestowal' (dād) and 'creation' (ījād), which must never cease.