M6:954 — کان فلک‌پیمای میمون‌بال چست / این زمان در عشق و اندر دام تست

Translation: That heaven-traverser, with auspicious, nimble wings, Is now in Love and within your snare. Meaning: This verse describes Bilal Habashi, whose soul has become soaring and heaven-traversing due to his love and faith in the Prophet and divine truth, and who is now ensnared in the Beloved's affection.

Here, I see how beautifully and eloquently Mowlana describes Bilal. Bilal, who was nothing more than a slave before embracing Islam, has now acquired a "heaven-traversing, auspicious-winged, nimble" spirit due to the faith and love he found for truth and the Prophet. This expression is profoundly Mowlana-esque. He traverses the heavens and spans the horizons, not with ordinary wings, but with his "auspicious wings." I have mentioned before that Mowlana did not see all wings as equal; "crow's wings lead to graveyards, falcon's wings lead to gardens." The wing itself has no inherent value; what gives it value is the destination and intention of the flight. Bilal's destination was divine love and prophetic truth; hence, his wings became auspicious and blessed. The crucial and exceedingly important point in this verse is its second line: "Is now in Love and within your snare." This snare is not a hunter's trap that imperils life; it is the snare of affection and love. This refers to the essence of religion and its initial mode of emergence. I have stated repeatedly that religions, at their inception, begin with love and fascination, not with arguments, miracles, or proofs. Contemporaries of the prophets, whether in the case of Jesus or Muhammad, never demanded miracles from them, nor did they seek reasons or refutations. They perceived the charismatic and magnetic personality of the prophets and became captivated and absorbed by them; a fascination that made them willing to sacrifice their lives, wealth, and everything they possessed. Mowlana reiterates this very point here: the truth of religion is love. Love for a divine personality and love for the truth that personality embodies. All those arguments and rationales, all that theology and philosophy, and even miracles, emerged later, and as Mowlana himself says, they are all for the "deniers." The miracles of the prophets were meant to "subdue enemies" and repel the opposition's denial, not to attract the hearts of friends or to create faith in the hearts of believers. Faith and love precede these, and are deeper than these. Bilal is ensnared in this love, and this snare has elevated him to a heaven-traversing state. This means what truly liberated Bilal was love, not merely freedom from physical servitude.

Key takeaways

• Love and faith in truth elevate the human spirit, making it heaven-traversing.
• The value of tools (like wings) lies in the noble destination and intention of flight, not in the tools themselves.
• The essence and starting point of religion is fascination and love for a divine personality and truth, not logical proof.
• Miracles and theological arguments primarily serve to quell the denial of opponents, not to foster faith in the hearts of friends.
• True freedom from servitude is found not in liberation from physical bondage, but in becoming ensnared in divine love.