M6:2624 — که چو ما او را به خود افراشتیم / عذر و حجت از میان بر داشتیم

Translation: For when we exalted him (the truth/master) to ourselves, / We removed all excuses and justifications from the midst. Meaning: This verse asserts that once the truth or the authentic spiritual guide is recognized and elevated, all need for questioning, excuses, or demanding proof vanishes, leaving only absolute surrender.

This verse, without a doubt, opens a gateway to one of the most challenging and potent teachings in the Masnavi, a doctrine that Rumi insists upon in various forms throughout his work: unconditional surrender to the master, or aslah (the most worthy one). Rumi states here that when "He" — who can be the manifest truth itself, or a perfect master embodying that truth — is exalted to our very essence, there remains no room for "excuses and justifications." The master is the proof, is the path; as Rumi says elsewhere, "Choose the master and deem him the very path." Argumentation and questioning are only necessary so long as the seeker is searching for truth and aims to reach it through logical reasoning. But when truth itself, or its embodied symbol, stands before us, demanding proof from the proof itself becomes an absurd endeavor. This is precisely the point Rumi emphasizes in the subsequent verse: "Since the hand of God made the qibla manifest, / Then deem all taharri (seeking/investigation) thenceforth rejected." Meaning, once the true qibla (direction of prayer/truth) and the straight path are illuminated, further seeking, investigation, or trial and error are deemed obsolete and unnecessary. One must lower one's head and step onto the revealed path.

However, we must pause here for a moment and consider the implications for the contemporary era. Rumi offered this counsel within his own specific time and intellectual context. In those days, distinguishing the aslah and the "knowing guide" might have been easier, and the intellectual and social landscape was vastly different from today's. In our age, where "the high and the low are mixed," and good and evil, pure and murky, are intertwined, an unqualified recommendation for "surrender" and "removing all excuses and justifications" is exceedingly perilous. With utmost regret, we witness the detrimental consequences of such blind submission in the various pseudo- and semi-Sufi orders that merely demand devotion, not truth. In such an environment, this teaching can lead to "selling one's intellect," "selling one's self," and "ingratitude for the bounty of rationality."

I state with complete candor that this lesson, though comprehensible within the framework of Rumi's mystical thought, is, at the very least, certainly inappropriate in the current era. We bear a religious and ethical responsibility not to recommend it to today's youth. Intellect is a divine gift, and inquiry and questioning are its cornerstones. Rumi himself, elsewhere, calls upon us to accompany "fellow-sufferers" and warns us against "bad companions"; this itself indicates that discerning the true guide requires discernment and rationality. Submission is indeed a lofty station, but only in the face of absolute truth and an aslah who is truth itself, not in the face of every claimant who raises the banner of spiritual guidance. This verse from Rumi, therefore, shows us both the peak of surrender-based knowledge and teaches us to always keep open the window of critique and thought, even in the face of the words of the great ones.

Key takeaways

• Absolute surrender to manifest truth or a perfect master: Once truth reveals itself, there is no room for questioning.
• The invalidation of seeking and argumentation after truth's clarity: Taharri (investigation) is only meaningful before discerning the true qibla.
• Soroush's warning against the misuse of this teaching: In the contemporary era, unconditional surrender can be dangerous and lead to "selling one's intellect."
• The difference between Rumi's era and the present: The difficulty of discerning the aslah today necessitates caution in advocating submission.
• Preservation of the dignity of intellect and inquiry: Despite the high station of surrender, intellect and thought are divine gifts that must not be sacrificed.