M6:1868 — نوبت صدرنگیست و صددلی / عالم یک رنگ کی گردد جلی

Translation: This is the era of a hundred colors and a hundred hearts; / When will the world of one color become manifest? Meaning: This verse posits that this world is intrinsically a realm of diversity, multiplicity of colors, and varied thoughts and beliefs, rendering the expectation of absolute uniformity and unity futile; for true unity reveals itself only in the other world.

This verse, my dear listeners, is a gem among Rumi's most crucial teachings on existence and ontology. Rumi here draws a definitive line between this world and the other, between the realm of multiplicity (kashrat) and the realm of unity (wahdat). I have stated repeatedly that this world is the domain of opposites and pluralities; everything you find in it has an opposite, a counterpart, and lends itself to enumeration. It is the higher world, the world of meanings, that possesses neither opposites, nor counterparts, nor numbers. This fundamental point is the key to understanding this particular couplet.

«نوبت صد رنگیست و صددلی / عالم یک رنگ کی گردد جلی» — Rumi states that this world is the 'turn' or 'era' of a hundred colors and a hundred hearts. This means this epoch, this stage of existence, is the rightful place and demand for hundreds of colors and thousands of thoughts and hearts. 'Nobat' here signifies 'rule' or 'exigency.' This world is made for a hundred colors, created for multiplicity. Our faculty of speech, this power of intellect and discourse — which Rumi likens to a 'spindle' — weaves dozens and hundreds of religions. It is impossible for this world to have a single religion, a single creed, or even for only one prophet to appear. This world, remember well, is a world of multiplicity. Even now, we have hundreds of languages, hundreds of colors, faces, and countenances; hundreds of different religions, philosophical schools, and moralities. What, then, do we expect? The expectation of 'one-coloredness' is absolutely alien to this world.

This discourse and this proliferation of opinions in the world are like a 'piebald cow.' A 'piebald cow' (gāv-e pīs) in traditional parlance was one with diverse spots and colors (black and white, mottled). This idiom is a sign of the inherent colorfulness and multiplicity of this world. No matter how much we desire it, we cannot make this world conform to one color and one thought. Even our faculty of speech, as it speaks, creates dozens of 'milal' — by which Rumi means 'religions' and 'creeds,' not 'nation' in the modern sense.

However, this verse also contains another half, in which a question is implicit: 'When will the world of one color become manifest?' This 'when' is not a rhetorical question implying 'never.' Rather, it is a query about the time and place of the manifestation of that unity. Rumi's answer is that such one-coloredness and unity do not belong to this world. That unveiled, unopposed, unquantifiable unity will manifest in the realm of the Resurrection (mahshar) and the Hereafter. On that day, unity will emerge from beneath multiplicity; rather, multiplicities will vanish, and only absolute unity will become manifest. Just as we read in the Holy Quran, deniers of God will believe in His existence on the Day of Judgment, for truth will shine forth like the sun, and the power of denial will be stripped from all. It is in that world that 'the meanings of that world will take form,' meaning inner and hidden truths will appear in the garb of form. It is there that 'the lining will come to the surface of the garments'; that is, the hidden lining becomes the outer surface of the garment. Inner realities become apparent, hidden things become manifest. 'Our forms will be in accordance with our character,' meaning each person will acquire a form commensurate with their inner nature and character. Mulla Hadi Sabzevari, in his commentary on this verse, also refers to this meaning, for instance, that a greedy person will appear as an ant, and a lustful one as a pig. These are allegories for the manifestation of inner truth in outer form.

In other words, this verse offers us Rumi's lesson in ontological and epistemological pluralism. He teaches us that this world is a world of accepting diversity, not denying it. But this does not mean the negation of unity; rather, it implies the deferral and transference of unity's manifestation to another dimension of existence. That is where the 'essence of humanity' encompasses land and sea, and the 'piebald cows,' meaning the agents and bearers of multiplicity and multi-coloredness, are sacrificed, and their day of slaughter arrives. This 'human' refers to the 'Perfect Human' (Insān-e Kāmil), in whom divine unity is fully and completely manifest, and with his manifestation, the world too becomes one-colored and divine.

Key takeaways

• This world possesses an inherently pluralistic nature, and absolute unity or uniformity cannot be expected within it.
• The diversity of religions, thoughts, and even appearances in this realm is intrinsic and unavoidable, being an exigency of this world.
• «The era of a hundred colors and a hundred hearts» signifies the dominion and prevalence of multiplicity and variety in this world.
• True unity and absolute one-coloredness will only manifest in the other world (the Hereafter), where pluralities will vanish.
• The manifestation of the 'human essence' or 'Perfect Human' in the Resurrection implies the triumph of unity and the divinization of the world.
• Humans' inner realities will appear in outer forms in the other world; 'the lining will come to the surface of the garments.'