M2:165 — آن دلی کو مطلع مهتاب‌هاست / بهر عارف فتحت ابواب‌هاست

This couplet concludes a short digression on the nature of Sufi knowledge, contrasting it with scholastic learning. Rumi has just used the metaphor of a hunter who first tracks a deer by its footprints (gām) but is eventually guided by the scent of its musk (nāf). The footprints represent indirect, rational knowledge, while the scent represents direct, intuitive experience.

The heart of the perfected sage, or ʿārif (gnostic), is the culmination of this journey. It is not merely a passive reflector of light, but a maṭlaʿ, an active 'rising-place' or 'dawning-point' for countless 'moons'—divine illuminations and insights. For the seeker, this heart is not a barrier but a fatḥat al-abwāb, an 'opening of the gates'. Access to such a heart provides direct entry into the spiritual realities that others only read about. The next verse (M2:166) makes this explicit: what is a wall to you is a door to them; what is a stone to you is a jewel to them.