M6:3319 — او مع‌الله است بی کو کو همی / کاش جولاهانه ماکو گفتمی

Translation: He is with God, without saying 'where, where.' / Would that I, like a weaver, merely said 'shuttle.' Meaning: This verse contrasts the state of the Gnostic who is perpetually present with God and needs no seeking, with the state of the seeker (the poet) who wishes he could at least, by uttering a word like 'shuttle' (a phonetic echo of 'where, where'), keep his heart turned towards the Beloved.

This verse offers a profound insight into the difference between the seeker (sālik) and the one who has arrived (wāṣil) – a distinction central to Islamic mysticism. Here, Mevlana contrasts the "He" with the "I" to expound on two distinct existential states.

"He" refers to the Perfect Human, the Friend of God, who lives in perpetual proximity to the Divine, being maʿa-Allāh (with God). Such a one no longer needs to utter "where, where" (kū kū). The cry of kū kū is the mark of the cuckoo (fākhte), the bird searching for its nest, or the lover longing for a lost beloved. When the Beloved is present and union is achieved, there is no longer any need to ask "where are you?" The Presence is so all-encompassing that words themselves become a veil. This is a station where even verbal dhikr (remembrance) transforms into silent dhikr of the heart, eventually transcending even that, to a point where words themselves impede the pure experience of Presence. Just as intimate friends do not call each other by name in their immediate presence, but rather perceive a pure, unmediated presence. Mevlana here reminds us that these kū kū cries ultimately seek the attributes of mercy, power, purity, and intelligence; they seek that place where the heart and mind, like a lion in its den, belong; where the hopes of men and women turn in times of sorrow, and eyes, in sickness, flutter with the hope of health. This kū kū ultimately points to that realm to which the heart, through the verbal Hū, refers with an unmediated presence.

"I," in this verse, is Mevlana himself, who humbly places himself in the station of the sālik. He confesses that he has not yet attained that state of being maʿa-Allāh, hence his lament: "Would that I, like a weaver, merely said 'shuttle' (mākū)." This mākū is a linguistic and artistic play on Mevlana's part. The mākū (shuttle) is a tool that weavers (jūlāhān) ceaselessly and repetitively utter in their workshop; it is a mundane, everyday word. Yet here, for Mevlana, this word is not just an occupation, but a shadow, a faint echo, or at least an effort to preserve the remembrance of the Beloved. Mākū is phonetically close to kū kū, and this proximity creates a symbolic link between a worldly task and a sacred quest. It is as if Mevlana says: Even if I have not reached the station of the wāṣilīn who find the Beloved without seeking, and even if I do not constantly cry out kū kū like a lost cuckoo, would that at least, like a weaver repeating mākū, the remembrance of the Beloved be constant in my tongue and heart. This plea speaks to the yearning of a sālik who, even in the absence of complete union, is content with the minimum of presence and remembrance.

This sentiment is akin to the story of Zuleikha, who named everything Yusuf. Zuleikha was so absorbed in Yusuf that she heard his name in everything and praised him or absolved him of imperfections with every word; the entire world was a manifestation of Yusuf for her. Mevlana's utterance of mākū is also a Zuleikha-like "Yusuf": the repetition of a name, not out of complete presence, but out of the dominance of the Beloved's remembrance in all aspects of life – even in mundane and repetitive tasks like a weaver's work.

Key takeaways

• The verse clearly distinguishes between the wāṣil (one in absolute Presence) and the sālik (one still in longing and yearning).
• Kū kū symbolizes seeking and separation, asking about an absent presence; the wāṣil's state transcends this quest.
• Mākū is Mevlana's wordplay, representing hidden remembrance and seeking within everyday speech, even if not as fervent as kū kū.
• Mevlana identifies with the sālik's station, desiring the continuous presence of the Beloved's remembrance, even in the form of a mundane word's repetition.
• This verse emphasizes that even a faint, repetitive remembrance of the Beloved during worldly tasks is a step towards ultimate Presence.