M6:1543 — گفت قاضی من قضادار حیم / حاکم اصحاب گورستان کیم

Translation: The judge said: "I am the adjudicator of the living. Who am I to rule over the denizens of the graveyard?" Meaning: This verse, spoken by a judge, questions his own jurisdiction over an individual who, despite appearing alive, has undergone a spiritual 'death' to worldly existence, and thus transcends ordinary human judgment.

This profound verse, spoken by a worldly judge, serves as a deep philosophical commentary on the limitations of human justice and the scope of exoteric laws. The judge here encounters an individual who, though outwardly alive, has transcended the ego and worldly attachments—someone who has, in Rumi's words, 'died a hundred times to himself.' Such a person, the ghazi (warrior/ascetic) of the Masnavi's tale, has, through asceticism and struggle with the self, reached a station where, from Rumi's perspective, he is a 'denizen of the graveyard' – not in the physical sense, but in the sense of the death of self-interest and earthly ties.

The judge, in a state of bewilderment and impotence, asks: 'I am tasked with adjudicating the living; how can I pass judgment on one who has fundamentally stepped outside this circle of conventional life and wanders in the realm of the formless?' This question highlights the boundaries of conventional reason and apparent religious law, which are incapable of grasping spiritual states. As Rumi continues: 'Though outwardly he is not lowly in the grave, graves have entered his lineage.' That is, though he appears alive, his being has reached such a state of selflessness and colorlessness that it is as if graveyards are buried within his existence. It is he who contains the graves of dead selves, rather than being placed in a grave. This is the zenith of Rumi's poetic hyperbole and artistry, conveying the mystic's state with striking imagery. He states: 'You've often seen the dead within a grave; now see the grave within the dead, O blind one!' This expression reveals the depth of fanā fī Allah (annihilation in God) that wayfarers achieve; those annihilated ones who, from an outward perspective, are ineffective and unseen, but inwardly are the truly living who have left worldly life behind.

For this reason, the judge advises the wise: 'Do not circle the anger and hatred of the dead; beware, do not contend with a bathhouse painting.' This person is like a painting on a bathhouse wall (recalling Sa'di's tale of Satan's image on a bathhouse wall) – lifeless and inconsequential. Thus, engagement with him is meaningless. The judge implicitly acknowledges that his jurisdiction extends only to 'egoic existences' and not to 'divine existences' who have become annihilated from themselves. It is here that the judge himself becomes a teacher, instructing others to distinguish between outward and inward life. He says: 'Be thankful that a living one did not reject you, for whoever a living one rejects, God has rejected.' This 'living one' (zindah) here refers to the saint (walī Allāh) who is alive by divine life, and whose rejection is a rejection by God. The judge, with these words, not only speaks of his own jurisdiction but points to the stature of the 'saints of God,' who, being alive in truth, have anger that is God's anger and rejection that is God's rejection. This saint is the 'pure-skinned' one whom God has 'killed' and then 'breathed into' again—a death of the butcher's kind, but a breathing not of the butcher, but of God, which grants another, eternal life. This is the vast difference between the 'butcher's breath' and the 'breath of God'; one takes life, the other bestows life and grants eternal existence. It is here that the limits of worldly human understanding and judgment fall short of the divine saints; those who are immersed in the essence of God and are no longer considered 'living' in the conventional sense, to be subject to worldly laws and courts. This verse, in essence, draws a boundary between sharīʿah (religious law) and ḥaqīqah (ultimate reality), showing that at the frontiers of ultimate reality, the rules of exoteric law no longer apply.

Key takeaways

• Worldly justice and laws govern the realm of egoic life, but are incapable of judging mystics annihilated in God.
• One who has transcended 'life' in the egoic sense and experienced 'voluntary death' stands beyond superficial evaluations.
• Rumi, through poetic hyperbole ('graves have entered his lineage'), portrays the mystic's state in a way that transcends common understanding.
• The 'truly living ones' (divine saints), who are alive by God's life, are authorities beyond worldly judges, and their rejection is God's rejection.
• The distinction between the 'butcher's breath' (breath of death) and the 'breath of God' (breath of spiritual life) signifies the nature of mystical transformation.