M6:1552 — فرق بسیارست بین النفختین / این همه زینست و آن سر جمله شین

Translation: Vast is the difference between these two insufflations (al-Nafkhatayn): / All of this is from ignominy (zīn), and that is wholly of glory (shīn). Meaning: This verse highlights the profound distinction between two kinds of "breaths" or insufflations: one arising from worldly motives and leading to baseness, and the other emanating from the Divine, bestowing life and honor.

I often observed in my childhood how butchers, to easily remove the skin from a slaughtered sheep, would make an incision in its leg and blow air into the carcass, either by mouth or through a tube, to inflate it. This “butcher’s insufflation” (nafkh-i qaṣṣāb) is a purely physical and mechanical act; it is a breath for a worldly, profit-driven purpose: to facilitate the butcher’s work. This insufflation imparts no life to the sheep; rather, it is blown into a dead body to make a mundane task easier and its skin more readily removed. Mowlana refers to this puff as zīn, a symbol of baseness, meanness, and insignificance. It is an act that, though serving a worldly end, carries no dignity and, moreover, pertains only to appearance and skin.

In contrast, there is the “Divine insufflation” (nafkh-i ḥaqq). This insufflation is neither transient nor for fleeting gain, like the butcher’s breath, nor does it pertain merely to the outward form. The breath that God breathed into Adam was the breath of life, the breath of spirit, as the Quran states: “I breathed into him of My Spirit.” This insufflation is of the essence of divinity and brings the soul into being. Those “pure-skinned ones” (pākīze-pūstān) of whom Mowlana speaks are individuals in whom this Divine insufflation remains, and their very life stems entirely from that source. This breath is eternal, spiritual, and the fount of honor and dignity; it is shīn. In our literature, shīn symbolizes honor and splendor, in contrast to zīn, which symbolizes ugliness and malice. This insufflation not only gives life to the body and form but also keeps the soul connected to itself, preserving it from the ignominies and distortions of the world. The difference between these two is the difference between outward form and inner reality, between death and life, and between this world and the hereafter.

Key takeaways

• The fundamental difference between mundane (butcher's) and Divine insufflation.
• The butcher's breath symbolizes baseness and material gain, whereas the Divine breath symbolizes spiritual honor and dignity.
• Divine insufflation is the source of life and lasting connection to the soul, unlike the fleeting and mechanical butcher's breath.
• This verse presents a profound contrast between outward form and inner reality, and between death and true life.
• Zīn and Shīn as symbolic representations of ignominy/malice and beauty/honor within Mowlana's mystical framework.