M6:4288 — با خلیل آتش گل و ریحان و ورد / باز بر نمرودیان مرگست و درد

Translation: For Abraham, the fire became rose, basil, and blossoms; but for the Nimrodians, it remained death and pain. Meaning: A single phenomenon, like fire, produces entirely different effects for different people, depending on their inner state and their relationship with the divine.

This verse is one of those foundational teachings of the Mathnawi that demonstrates how reality, as it appears to us, is more a reflection of our inner state and our relationship with absolute Truth than it is a product of the object's inherent nature. The story of Abraham (Khaleel) and Nimrod's fire, also referenced in the Quran, is a clear symbol of this truth. God commands the fire: "O fire, be coolness and safety upon Abraham." This command transforms the very essence of the fire for Abraham; that same burning fire becomes a rose garden and a bower for him. Yet, for Nimrodians and their followers, the identical fire remains ablaze, deadly, and painful.

From Mowlana's perspective, and consequently from my own, this never implies a change in the physical nature of fire for everyone. Rather, it is a transformation in the quality of perception and experience of the recipient, aligned with divine will. This is where Mowlana's earlier words resonate: "If a single hair is crooked, it becomes a veil for the heavens; if all your parts are crooked, what then?" If our inner eye is skewed and flawed, we perceive the world as skewed. The Nimrodians, with hearts veiled and distant from divine gnosis, were incapable of perceiving the grace and safety of the fire, because their vision of truth was obscured. The fire remained an adversary and destructive in their eyes, because their hearts were adversarial and destructive. He whose heart is close to Truth finds well-being even from fire; he who is far from Truth feels pain even from a garden. This is the distinction between the 'Prophet' and the 'dullard' in perceiving existential truths: one sees truth revealed, while the other is trapped within the veil of his own heedlessness.

Key takeaways

• Inner transformation dictates outer experience; reality as it appears to us is a reflection of our internal state.
• A single truth is a blessing for the gnostic and a torment for the ignorant; depending on the heart, fire can be a garden or death.
• Divine grace alters the reality of things for the righteous, not necessarily their physical nature for all.
• The Nimrodians' perception was their own veil; they saw pain and death because their hearts were obscured from truth, not because the fire itself was hostile.
• The distinction between the prophet and the dullard in perceiving objective truths depends on the purity and unveiledness of the heart.