M6:2508 — غلغل و طاق و طرنب و گیر و دار / که نمی‌بینم مرا معذور دار

Translation: With all this clamor and commotion, this din and strife, I cannot see, so excuse me. Meaning: This verse depicts someone who, through excessive noise and ostentation, reveals their inability and blindness, perhaps even takes pride in it; yet others also fail to truly perceive them, and they themselves lack genuine insight.

This verse, delivered with a critical tone, provides a precise depiction of a human condition in which an individual, instead of seeking insight or maintaining silence in the face of deficiency, parades their inadequacy through clamor and commotion. Here, Rumi alludes to his preceding narrative, the story of the Muslim's halva and his dream, presenting this verse as a summary of the state of one whose dreams are false, and who, with all this uproar and din, in fact testifies to their own blindness.

I have repeatedly stated in my lectures that Rumi is neither one to complain about the world nor one to seek to create another; rather, he perceives the world as perfect. Yet, people sometimes, with false claims and pompous displays, deem themselves to be in a higher station than they truly are. Here, Rumi speaks of a blind person holding a cane, but this very cane testifies to their blindness. The issue is not that they are blind, but that they ostentatiously display this blindness with great commotion, and “in a sense, they pride themselves on their blindness.” This pride in a defect is what Rumi would not consider the muḥw (effacement) of ignorance, but rather a naḥw (grammar/form) of self-display. Recall the famous verse: “Here, one needs effacement, not grammar.”

This clamor, this “din and strife,” is in truth a veil that the individual casts over their own insight. They are shouting, “I cannot see, so excuse me,” but this cry does not stem from humility or a plea for help; rather, it contains an element of performance. More interestingly, “even other blind people do not see you.” This sentence adds a deeper layer of meaning; it implies that even those in the same predicament cannot grasp the truth of this commotion and ostentation. A kind of double blindness is at play: both the blindness of the one crying out and that of their listeners.

Rumi excellently demonstrates here how some individuals suffer from “the illusion of self-sufficiency”; they believe themselves to be independent or all-knowing. This is the very “grammarian’s” pride that Rumi alludes to in the first book, in the story of the grammarian and the boatman. This clamor and this blind display stand in stark contrast to the “Listen!” with which the Masnavi begins; a “Listen!” that is an invitation to silence and to hearing the truth, not to uproar and display. This commotion prevents one from hearing the “melody within us” that emanates from the Divine Presence, connecting humanity to the “sea of spiritual knowledge.”

Key takeaways

• Ostentation and clamor about one's deficiencies hinder true insight, transforming a cry for help into a “pride in blindness.”
• One who loudly declares their ignorance is engaged in naḥw (outward display), not muḥw (effacement); focusing on form, not dissolving into truth.
• Spiritual blindness is not limited to the one crying out; sometimes “other blind people” are also deceived by the commotion and fail to see the truth.
• Rumi distinguishes between “complaint” (lament of separation) and “clamor” (display of defect); the former is a spiritual journey, the latter obscures truth.
• This verse critiques the illusion of self-sufficiency, believing that deficiencies can be masked by display, when in fact it exposes them further.