M6:3216 — چشم و دل را هین گذاره کن ز طین / این یکی قبله‌ست دو قبله مبین

Translation: Hurry, cleanse your eye and heart from clay; / This is one Qibla; do not see two Qiblas. Meaning: This verse commands the seeker to purify their inner vision and heart from material and dualistic perceptions, for ultimate reality is singular, and one must not perceive multiplicity where unity reigns.

This profound and resolute couplet from Mawlana is an unequivocal call to both perceptual and devotional tawhid (unity). When Mawlana declares, "Hurry, cleanse your eye and heart from clay," he urges us to instantly purify ourselves from anything that leads to dualistic vision or contaminates our understanding. Here, "clay" (ṭīn) symbolizes the material world and its apparent multiplicity, representing the attachments and specifications that veil unity. This purification is not from physical dirt, but from the "dust of otherness" (ghayr); a dust that settles upon the eye of the heart and prevents us from perceiving the singular truth.

It is following this purification that the second command is issued: "This is one Qibla; do not see two Qiblas." This statement encapsulates the very essence of mystical tawhid. The Qibla is our directional guide and the focal point of our attention. Mawlana asserts that in the spiritual journey, there is only one direction, one ultimate desire, and one reality. Any deviation towards a "second Qibla" signifies subtle polytheism (shirk-e khafī) or a failure to attain annihilation (fanā) in unity. This is the most fundamental mystical teaching: the negation of duality and an insistence on the absolute singularity of Truth.

Mawlana employs numerous parables in the Masnavi to elucidate this singularity. The analogy of "iron glowing in fire" from Book Two vividly illustrates this meaning: iron placed in a furnace becomes so incandescent that it acquires the attributes of fire itself—it becomes hot, burns, and emits light. In effect, the iron, while remaining iron, becomes a manifestation of fire. Similarly, the servant who achieves proximity to God becomes so "filled with God" that divine attributes and actions emanate from them. This resonates with the ḥadīth qudsī (sacred tradition) which states: "My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory deeds until I love him, and when I love him, I become his hearing with which he hears, his sight with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes, and his foot with which he walks." In this station, there can no longer be "two Qiblas" or two directions, because both the agent and the object of devotion are truly connected to a single, unified source. This is Ṣibghat Allāh (the dye of God), and once humanity is imbued with it, the "blemishes" of multiplicity vanish, and all are absorbed into the singular Divine hue. In such a state, how can one who speaks with the tongue of God and sees with the eye of God perceive two directions?

Mawlana's parable of the "man named Omar in the city of Kashan" further deepens the explication of "do not see two Qiblas." In a city where all are united in a single conviction (for instance, their Shi'i identity and their dislike for the name Omar), if a person named "Omar" goes to a shop requesting bread, not only that shop but all the shops in the city will refuse to sell to him. This is because, in essence, they are all "one" and hold a unified stance. If the man fails to grasp this "unity of stance" and believes each shop operates independently, he is aḥwal (squint-eyed, seeing double) and will remain perpetually deprived. Mawlana suggests that if we, too, perceive God's actions in the universe as fragmented and attribute each event to a separate source, we are aḥwal and double-sighted, and we fail to grasp the single, unifying truth flowing through all existence. In the eyes of those who have attained tawhid, all shops are one; all actions are God's actions. Thus, cleansing the eye and heart from this dualistic vision is the most essential step toward union and annihilation. This "annihilation of existences" and "dissolution" into the ocean of unity is the ultimate destination, where "before this sun, how can a crescent moon shine?" meaning that in the presence of that absolute Existence, every being becomes effaced and insignificant, and there is no longer any question of two or more directions or Qiblas.

Key takeaways

• Purifying the eye and heart from material attachments is a prerequisite for perceiving unity.
• "Clay" (ṭīn) symbolizes the world of multiplicity and the veil between the seer and the seen.
• "One Qibla" symbolizes absolute tawhid (unity) and the singularity of Truth.
• "Do not see two Qiblas" is a command to abandon all forms of dualistic perception and subtle polytheism.
• The parable of the "man named Omar in Kashan" illustrates how failing to perceive unified intention (seeing "two Qiblas") leads to deprivation from truth.
• The mystic who achieves annihilation in God acquires divine attributes, rendering the concept of two directions or Qiblas meaningless for them.