M6:2355 — فلسفی خود را از اندیشه بکشت / گو بدو کوراست سوی گنج پشت

Translation: The philosopher killed himself by (means of) thought; tell him, his back is to the treasure. Meaning: This verse is Mawlana's critique of philosophers who, by immersing themselves in intellectual thought, stray from truth and turn their backs on the treasure of knowledge instead of finding it.

Philosophy and scholastic theology, in Mawlana’s view, are like arduous deserts and turbulent oceans that draw seekers of truth far afield, while the treasure they seek is right here, in our immediate vicinity. Mawlana here directly addresses philosophers, particularly scholastic theologians, telling them: you destroy yourselves through your thoughts and rational arguments. This 'killing oneself' is not spiritual annihilation, but rather the suffocation of intuition and direct experience of truth.

This excessive cogitation, instead of drawing us closer to God, distances us from Him. The Truth is «aqrab min habl al-warid» (closer than the jugular vein). In such a state, casting the arrow of thought to distant horizons indicates a lost path. It is like someone who has the treasure at their feet but shoots their arrow far away. This is a fundamental critique of the methodology of seeking truth: the philosopher, by turning their back on the proximate treasure, searches in the most remote places.

Mawlana describes this philosophical pursuit as running 'with one's back to the destination.' You run, you exert effort, you sweat, but because your back is to the treasure, the more you run, the further you get from your desire. This effort is not only fruitless but destructive. Philosophy, in this context, is like 'paper wings' that awaken in a person the urge to fly, but ultimately cast them to the ground, leading to their demise. Just as Kant, centuries later, defined the limits of theoretical reason, Mawlana too, long before him, considered this path a dead end.

He clarifies this contrast with the Quranic verse «jāhadū fīnā» (strive in Our way). Striving must be «fīnā» – turning towards the Divine Presence and occupying oneself with Him – not «ʿannā», which means turning away from Him. The issue is not merely effort and exertion, but the direction and intention of this effort. Many Sufis and Hadith scholars, for this reason, emphasized that one should not go beyond what the Prophet (PBUH) revealed about the unseen, nor unleash reason in that realm, because 'hundreds of thorns will pierce your hand.'

God has an unmediated and perpetual presence. He is never absent, so we are not in need of discovering Him through complex arguments. What needs to be discovered is not God, but God's presence within ourselves. The philosopher, by building intellectual fortifications, deprives himself of this proximity, just like those ships that collide on the bright sea of souls, yet are 'dark-eyed' and unaware of the water beneath them. Mawlana says, «We are like the reed, and the melody within us is from You»; but the philosopher attempts to create the melody with their own intellect, rather than being an empty vessel (a reed) for the divine breath. This 'killing oneself by thought,' in essence, is killing the potential to become a 'reed' (a conduit of divine melody).

Key takeaways

• Divine truth is inherently close; mere intellectual thought distances us from it.
• Misdirected mental effort is like running with one's back to the destination.
• Striving must be «fīnā» (towards God), not «ʿannā» (away from Him).
• Philosophy without intuition obstructs the path to the treasure of knowledge.
• Mawlana advocates for self-knowledge and direct experience of truth over mere intellectual reasoning.