M6:4042 — یار آمد عشق را روز آفتاب / آفتاب آن روی را هم‌چون نقاب

Translation: For Love, the Beloved became the sun of the day; The sun is but a veil for that Face. Meaning: For the true lover, the Beloved is the only source of light and day. The physical sun in the sky is merely a covering, a mask, over the radiant face of the real Beloved.

In this verse, Mowlana, with decisive and clear language, unveils the secret of the lover's worldview. For one who has stepped into the valley of love, the essence of existence is manifested in the Beloved, and everything else is a form that acts as a veil or mask over that truth.

I have said this many times: this verse is a focal point for understanding Mowlana's perception of the world. The 'sun of the day' for the lover is not that burning orb in the sky, but the captivating face of the Beloved. Indeed, the very sun of the cosmos is a veil over that true 'Face.' What does this mean? It means that if one fails to distinguish this 'veil' from the 'face of the Beloved,' one becomes trapped in the worship of form and becomes an 'idolater of the sun' (ʿābid al-shams). Through this expression, Mowlana intends to convey that the entirety of this world, with all its myriad manifestations, is a veil over the face of Truth, a glove that God wears. The wind, the rain, the sun—every manifestation we perceive is His action emerging from behind this veil.

As prophets and mystics have taught us, we must see the 'hand' behind the 'glove,' the 'meaning' behind the 'form,' and the 'named reality' beyond the 'name.' If we stare at the finger of someone pointing to the moon and fail to see the moon itself, we have lost the truth. Mowlana, in another place, therefore says: "I seek an eye that pierces causes / So it may uproot the cause from root and base." This 'cause-piercing eye' is the mystical insight that tears through masks and intermediaries to look beyond them. This eye is the 'God-seeing eye' and the 'unity-seeing eye' that perceives unity within multiplicity. The realized mystic is one who removes these veils and understands that everywhere, 'one Being is seated and performing work'; all these actions are the actions of a single existence, and the world, with all its components, is the eye, ear, hand, and foot of God.

This is a fundamental lesson for understanding 'formlessness' (bi-sūratī) in the Masnavi; this world of forms has emerged from the formless. Mowlana, like a reed that transforms the breath of the player into a sweet melody, explains that these shapes and forms of the material world are manifestations of that absolute formlessness. Neglecting this point is precisely the 'worship of form' that prevents one from reaching the unveiled Beloved. This verse, in its depth, is an invitation to a monotheistic gnosis, a gnosis that seeks unity beyond multiplicity and reaches the essence beyond the appearance.

Key takeaways

• For the lover, the Beloved is the sole sun and source of light.
• The visible sun of the world is merely a veil over the true Beloved's face.
• All existence and worldly phenomena are manifestations and veils of absolute Reality.
• Mystical insight requires piercing these veils to perceive unity within multiplicity.
• One who cannot distinguish the veil from the Beloved's face falls into 'worship of form.'
• Mowlana calls for a 'cause-piercing eye' to look beyond superficial appearances.