M6:2670 — نیست زر غبا وظیفهٔ عاشقان / سخت مستسقیست جان صادقان

Translation: Visiting intermittently is not the way of lovers; the soul of the truthful is severely dropsied (perpetually thirsty). Meaning: Mowlana contends that while an 'every-other-day' visit may suffice for conventional friendships, it falls far short for true lovers whose souls are afflicted with an insatiable, perpetual thirst for the Beloved.

This couplet emerges within Mowlana’s profound narrative of the mouse and the frog, where the mouse laments distance and seeks a path to continuous connection. Mowlana shrewdly sets this stage to discuss the discourse of lovers, not those who merely remember their Beloved intermittently, but those true lovers who are perpetually in communion. I contend that this distinction is crucial for grasping Mowlana’s approach to divine love.

The verse begins by dismissing a common ethical and spiritual guideline: "Visiting intermittently is not the way of lovers." The phrase "Zar ghabā" alludes to a well-known Prophetic saying or a common Arab maxim, "Zūrū ghabban tazdādū ḥubban," meaning "Visit each other intermittently, and your love will increase." This rule, for ordinary friendships, is, indeed, effective. Common friends might tire of constant visits; distance allows for renewed desire. However, Mowlana asserts unequivocally that this method is not the duty of lovers. Why? Because true lovers are not two independent individuals who might weary of each other, but rather two beings that have achieved a profound unity. Where the unity of souls has occurred, weariness and boredom dissipate. Does one ever tire of oneself?

Following this, Mowlana describes the soul of lovers with the metaphor of the "mustasqī" (a person with dropsy): "the soul of the truthful is severely dropsied (perpetually thirsty)." Dropsy is an ailment causing intense, unending thirst; no matter how much water is drunk, it brings no satiation, and indeed, drinking more water can even lead to death. This rich metaphor beautifully illustrates the depth of the lover’s thirst. The lover knows that union with the Beloved will consume them, yet they have no choice but to drink from this ocean of connection. Their thirst is so relentless that it acknowledges no boundaries—not five prescribed prayers, nor fifty thousand. They are "dā'imūn fī ṣalāt" (perpetually in prayer/remembrance). Just as Gabriel’s sustenance was the sight of God, so too is the lover’s nourishment found in this perpetual divine presence.

Mowlana reinforces this concept with another analogy: "Intermittent visits are not the duty of fish, for without the sea, they have no life." One cannot tell a fish to stay in the water only every other day! The fish’s life is intrinsically tied to the sea; a moment’s separation is its death. The lover’s soul is exactly the same, perpetually immersed in the ocean of the Beloved, and any separation is an agonizing torment.

A pivotal and unparalleled point in Mowlana’s philosophy, contrasting with many other great Persian poets like Hafez and Saʿdi, is that for him, love is not one-sided. The Beloved also seeks the lover and is likewise "mustasqī." Mowlana explicitly states, "Love is dropsied; it seeks the dropsied / They follow each other like day and night." This means that love is not only ablaze in the lover’s soul but the Beloved, too, secretly and veiled, yearns for their lover. It is a mutual embrace, a shared thirst, for "sweet is the kindness of both sides." This perspective transforms the relationship between servant and God from a master-servant dynamic, or merely one of demand and self-sufficiency, into a deep, reciprocal ontological bond. This is a fundamental departure from approaches that portray the Beloved as merely coy and self-sufficient, leaving the lover in perpetual supplication. In Mowlana’s view, both "day and night" are in love with each other and pursue one another—one overtly, the other veiled.

Key takeaways

• Divine love transcends the rules of ordinary friendships; the relationship with the True Beloved cannot be intermittent or broken.
• The soul of the truthful lover suffers from an insatiable 'dropsy' (mustasqī) for union with the Beloved, a thirst no amount of presence can quench.
• True lovers are perpetually 'in prayer' (fī ṣalāt dā'imūn) and in the presence of the Beloved; the five prescribed prayers are merely a minimum for them, not the zenith.
• Mowlana, unlike many other poets, emphasizes the mutual thirst and longing between lover and Beloved; love's fire burns from both sides.
• The lover's soul is like a fish, for whom a moment's distance from the Beloved's 'sea' is impossible and tantamount to death.