M1:115 — چون قلم اندر نوشتن می‌شتافت / چون به عشق آمد قلم بر خود شکافت

Translation: As the pen was hastening in writing, When it reached Love, the pen split itself.

Meaning: This verse illustrates the ultimate inadequacy of the pen and language—symbols of intellect and expression—to fully articulate the profound nature of Love. It suggests that Love's grandeur is such that even the instrument of writing breaks down in its presence.

In the Masnavi, my constant endeavor is to open the gate of ʿishq (love), and Mowlana himself guides us, step by step, on this journey. This verse emerges from discussions where love, though it might appear as an ailment, is a malady of a different kind: “The beloved's ailment is separate from all ailments” (ʿillat-i ʿāshiq zi ʿillat-hā judāst). Indeed, love is not merely an ailment; rather, it is the “astrolabe of God’s secrets” (ʿishq asturlāb-i asrār-i Khudāst), a ladder by which one can ascend to the heavens of meaning and hidden divine truths. This verse is situated precisely within this context.

Mowlana explicitly states here that no matter how much he attempts to elaborate and describe love, “whatever I may say to explain and describe Love,” when he confronts the reality of Love itself, “when I come to Love, I am ashamed of it” (chun ba ʿishq āyam khajil bāsham az ān). This means that all my words and descriptions pale in comparison to the grandeur of Love’s presence. This is not merely my own speech, but the very language of Love’s state.

This inadequacy of language and the pen to express love reaches its climax in the second half of the verse: “As the pen was hastening in writing, / When it reached Love, the pen split itself.” The pen, a symbol of intellect and the primary instrument of explanation and composition, proceeds swiftly and ably in all other matters. Yet, as soon as it enters the realm of Love, due to the magnitude and depth of that reality, it splits itself and ceases to function. This is a profound metaphor for the insufficiency of any intellectual or expressive tool when confronting the essence of Love. Intellect, before Love, is as if “a donkey bogged down in mud” (ʿaql dar sharḥash chu khar dar gil bukhuft), becoming stuck and losing its ability to move or explain.

Therefore, the way to know Love is not through explanation and interpretation, but through direct immersion within it. As Mowlana says, “The explanation of Love and loving, Love itself told / The sun is the proof of the sun” (sharḥ-i ʿishq u ʿāshiqī ham ʿishq guft / āftāb āmad dalīl-i āftāb). Love itself is its own proof. Just as the sun is its own evidence, needing no lamp or external argument to prove its existence. This is a fundamental distinction between inferential knowledge and presential knowledge. The knowledge of Love is of the nature of presence and intuition (ḥuẓūr va shuhūd), not of inference and conceptualization. Just as to understand the sea, one must not merely describe it; no matter how much we speak of the sea and remain on the shore, we grasp not a single drop of the reality of its depths. One must “leap into the sea and immerse oneself” to attain its truth, and Mowlana himself chose this path, to the extent that he said, “I cannot be patient without being drowned in the sea” (man nashkībam az ghirqāb-i baḥr); even if I drown in it, this drowning itself is equivalent to eternal subsistence.

Mowlana utters these words not from theoretical speculation, but from “within the furnace” of his own direct experience; from the existential depth in which he himself was immersed. And even so, he confesses that what we hear is but “one veil out of a thousand veils of Love and loving” (yak parda az hazār parda-yi ʿishq u ʿāshiqīst). This acknowledgement of Love's perfection and boundlessness is itself a testament to the depth of this intuitive knowledge.

Key takeaways

• The pen and language, tools of intellect and expression, are ultimately inadequate to convey the pure truth of Love.
• Love is not a mere affliction; rather, it is an 'astrolabe of God’s secrets'—a means to ascend to divine truths.
• Intellect, when confronted with Love, becomes powerless and bogged down, like a donkey stuck in mud.
• Love can only be explained by Love itself; its knowledge comes through direct presence and intuition, not through reasoning or interpretation.
• To comprehend Love, one must plunge into its depths and embrace being submerged in it, rather than merely speaking about it.