M6:3349 — چشم من پرست و سیرست و غنی / از دو صد خورشید دارد روشنی

Translation: My eye is full, sated, and rich; / it possesses the light of two hundred suns.

Meaning: The King of Khwarazm wonders why he is so captivated by this one horse when his eyes are already saturated with countless worldly splendors.

Here we encounter a subtle and perspicacious king. Mowlana does not depict a monarch who merely boasts of his power; this king is capable of introspection. He asks himself: what is the secret here? Why has this one horse so stolen my heart? I, who possess hundreds of priceless horses in my stables. I, whose eyes are sated with beauty. This verse is the expression of that philosophical bewilderment.

"My eye is full, sated, and rich" means that I have reached a point of saturation. My sight is so enriched that "it possesses the light of two hundred suns." The number two hundred signifies immense multiplicity. It means: I have seen all the majesty and beauty the world has to offer. This is not a boast; it is the premise of an argument. It sets the stage for the greater question: from where, then, does this attraction originate?

The king correctly diagnoses that this magnetism cannot stem from the horse's own properties—"the qualities of this." If it were mere physical beauty, his jaded eye would have dismissed it or remained indifferent. When something captivates a person beyond the bounds of habit, its source must be sought elsewhere. He understands that he is facing a jadhbah—a divine pull, a spiritual attraction made manifest in this beautiful form.

Mowlana confirms this diagnosis in the following verses. The king concludes that "the creator of sorcerers has performed sorcery." This is not the magic of the horse, but the magic of the God who creates magicians. This is the very subtle point that separates the gnostic from the common person. The common person remains fixated on the form, becoming infatuated with the horse. But the gnostic, here appearing in the guise of a king, sees through the form to the hidden hand that is pulling him.

Interestingly, when he seeks refuge in reciting the Fātiḥah and prayers to dispel this feeling, his pain and attraction only intensify. Why? "Because the Fātiḥah itself was pulling him." The very instrument used for escape becomes the rope of attraction. This demonstrates that when the pull comes from God, there is no escape; every attempt to flee only entangles one deeper in the trap of love.

Key takeaways

• Divine attraction (jadhbah) can manifest through the form of a worldly creature.
• Faced with beauty, the true gnostic questions its source rather than just clinging to the form.
• An eye that is 'sated' with worldly splendors is more prepared to recognize a true divine pull.
• When God is the one pulling you, even religious tools like prayer can intensify the attraction instead of repelling it.
• Mowlana shows that even a worldly king can possess spiritual aptitude and intelligence.