M6:2553 — زین رسالات مزید اندر مزید / یک جوابی زان حوالیتان رسید

Translation: From these letters, more and more continuously sent, / Has any answer reached you from those surroundings? Meaning: Molana interrogates false claimants of spiritual attainment, asking if, despite their incessant posturing and declarations, they have ever received any genuine sign or response from the True Beloved.

This couplet from Molana descends like a hammer on the heads of false claimants to spiritual poverty and gnosis. I have consistently emphasized that Molana has no truce with those 'ignorant ones with drums and banners' (khāmān bā tabl o ʿalam) who proclaim themselves 'donkeys in poverty and non-existence.' These are individuals who have 'cast the boast of mastership upon the world' (lāf-i sheikhī dar jahān andākhteh), likening themselves to Bayazid or, in our time, to Ayatollahs and Allamehs, without having attained an iota of such stations. These pretenders establish a gathering in the 'abode of claims' (daʿwī-kadeh), and with ever-increasing clamor and noise, strive to conceal their intellectual hollowness and inner emptiness. As I always say, 'wherever you see much boasting, know that it is empty in the middle'; much like a ceramic pot whose emptiness or fullness can be discerned by its sound, or a dome where sound echoes more due to its hollowness. This cacophony, this relentless 'news-making,' is a desperate attempt to conceal their inner void.

Molana, with a resonant and captivating analogy, clarifies this situation: 'The groom's house is full of tumult and mischief / But the bride's family has no news of it.' The groom (symbolizing the claimant to spiritual journey) throws a feast, sweeping and adorning his house, intoxicated by these worldly desires. But from the 'bride's family' (symbolizing the True Beloved or the realm of meaning), no message arrives, nor does even a bird fly from that roof. It is here that Molana, in a decisive tone, poses the question of our beyt: 'From these letters, more and more continuously sent, / Has any answer reached you from those surroundings?' You have written all these letters, made all these claims, proclaimed yourselves ready, as seekers and وصل-attained ones; has a single response, a real sign, an affirmation reached you from that unseen realm?

I liken this to the story of the simple-minded person who constantly wrote thank-you letters to relatives, without ever having received a letter from them. Claimants are similar: they deal with themselves, giving mental answers to their unanswered letters. Molana explicitly refutes this. A true divine response from the Real would signify an internal and ethical transformation in the seeker; not an increase in disciples, nor the accumulation of wealth and power, nor claims of secret connections with angels and denizens of the divine Throne. These two do not coincide. If you have truly 'changed as a person,' then a response has arrived. Otherwise, this boisterous 'groom' actually has no news from the 'bride's family,' and no answer has reached his letters.

Claimants might argue, 'But our Beloved knows about this / For from heart to heart there must be a way.' That is, the True Beloved is aware of our state, and there is a path from heart to heart. But Molana simply rejects this justification: 'Then from that Beloved in whom you hope / Why is the way devoid of a letter's answer?' If such a path exists, why has no response come? Why has that True Beloved remained silent? If a spiritual and heartfelt connection existed, 'a hundred signs there are, both hidden and plain'; there would be hundreds of overt and covert indications. But no; the one who possesses true knowledge, 'no news returned to him'; he makes no clamor and does not put himself on display. This lesson from Molana is both sweet, in that it opens our eyes, and bitter, in that it shows us a market overflowing with such pretenders.

Key takeaways

• Loud and boisterous claims are indicative of inner emptiness and a lack of genuine connection with the realm of meaning.
• Instead of outward correspondence and ceremony, the True Beloved grants an inner response to the seeker, which is moral and personal transformation.
• The meaningful silence of the Divine is not an absence, but a refusal to answer hollow boastful claims.
• There is a path from heart to heart, but both parties must know the way and be worthy of a response, not merely make claims.
• The clamor of pretenders is like a groom's uninformed celebration, while the bride's family is oblivious and has sent no reply.