M6:2455 — هر کسی دانند ای فخر البنین / که فزون باشد فن چرخ از زمین

Translation: O pride of humankind, everyone knows That the art of the firmament is greater than that of the earth.

Meaning: This verse, spoken by a Christian in a dream narrative, asserts the superiority of celestial experiences over earthly observations, claiming the grandeur and craft of the heavens surpass that of the terrestrial realm.

In the Masnavi, Mawlana recounts a story where a Jew, a Christian, and a Muslim each experience a dream involving the luminaries of their respective faiths, and each strives to assert the superiority of their own experience. This particular couplet is spoken by the Christian, who, in response to the Jew's dream of Moses on Mount Sinai, refers to his own dream of ascending with Christ to the fourth heaven.

To my mind, what this Christian articulates is a decisive claim: 'O pride of humankind, everyone knows / That the art of the firmament is greater than that of the earth.' He fundamentally means that his experience, which occurred in the fourth heaven in the company of Jesus Christ, is far more sublime and astonishing than the earthly experience of the Jew on Mount Sinai. The fan-e charkh—the art, craft, or wondrous workings of the celestial sphere—undoubtedly surpasses that of the terrestrial realm. This refers to the ancient ontological and cosmological hierarchy where the heavens and their perpetual motion were considered the origin of life and the manifestation of divine, inexhaustible power, while the earth was merely the center of gravity and the realm of generation and corruption.

Mawlana teaches us through this narrative that in religious perceptions, human beings often structure their experiences through pre-existing mental and religious frameworks. The Christian sees Christ; the Jew sees Moses. While these experiences can be profound and impactful, from the perspective of Mawlana's authentic irfan and 'formlessness' (bī-ṣūratī), they are still bound by form and shape. A 'formless' experience is one that transcends any mental or doctrinal precondition, directly intuiting truth as it is, without a specific religious determination. However, this does not negate the value of these experiences, especially since Mawlana later alludes to the objective, external effects of such dreams—for instance, in another narrative where the healing of the sick follows these visions. It is this external effect that provides certainty, preventing us from dismissing the dream as mere fantasy or illusion.

The term Fakhr al-Banīn has been interpreted by Nicholson as 'pride of the Children of Israel,' but I believe it can also be translated as 'pride of humankind,' an appellation applicable to all of humanity. There is also an interesting linguistic nuance here: the word charkh that Mawlana uses is synonymous with falak (firmament or celestial sphere). As you know, in Persian, the letters 'چ' (ch), 'خ' (kh), and 'ک' (k) are sometimes interchangeable, and charkh is indeed used in the sense of falak. This reflects the conventional meaning of falak in ancient cosmology, referring to the nine or seven heavens. Thus, the Christian's message is clear: the heavens and superior realms, in both beauty and function, are grander and more intricate than the earth, and his experience, for this reason, is more elevated.

Key takeaways

• This couplet represents the Christian dreamer's assertion of the superiority of his celestial experience (ascension with Christ to the fourth heaven) over the Jew's earthly one (encountering Moses on Mount Sinai).
• Fan-e charkh symbolizes the superior art, grandeur, and divine orchestration of the celestial realm, which in ancient cosmology was considered more elevated than the terrestrial world.
• Mawlana illustrates how individuals in their spiritual experiences often perceive truth through their pre-existing religious and mental frameworks (Christ for Christians, Moses for Jews).
• These experiences, though profound and impactful, remain within the stage of 'form' (ṣūrat) and have not yet reached the ultimate mystical state of 'formlessness' (bī-ṣūratī) that Mawlana champions.
• The appellation Fakhr al-Banīn can be interpreted as 'pride of humankind,' referring to all humanity.