M6:2974 — که مرورا گرگ زد یا ره‌زنی / یا فتاد اندر چهی یا مکمنی

Translation: Perhaps a wolf attacked him, or a highwayman abducted him, Or he fell into a well, or into an ambush. Meaning: This verse, voiced by Abdulqavs's children, narrates their conjectures about the unknown fate of their father, listing the potential misfortunes that might have befallen him.

This verse, laid open like a scene from Abdulqavs's story in the sixth book of the Masnavi, gives voice to his children as they speculate about their father's unknown fate. Mowlana, with a peculiar tenderness, portrays these innocent inquiries: "What became of our father? Did a wolf devour him?" This phrase immediately echoes the tale of Joseph, whose brothers falsely claimed a wolf had eaten him. Or perhaps "highwaymen" abducted him, or he fell "into a well," or an "ambush" consumed him.

What holds significance in this narrative is not merely the occurrence of an event, but the profundity of absence and the enigma of 'disappearance.' It speaks to a being who suddenly departs from the realm of life, leaving his void to be filled with endless questions and conjectures. This is not just Abdulqavs's story; it is a narrative of the general human condition when faced with the loss of loved ones. Further in this tale, Mowlana points to a deeper truth: "All his children, engrossed in their preoccupation / Did not themselves recall that a father had existed." The children become so absorbed in their storytelling and speculation that they gradually "did not themselves recall" that they even had a father. This is a silence more tragic than death itself: the tragedy of the father's "oblivion" in the minds of his children.

This beyt and this story, though seemingly a simple narrative, point to deeper layers of Mowlana's ontology. Mowlana always seeks to uncover 'secrets' (rāzes), and in silence and absence, he seeks 'presence' above all. The father's absence is not merely the void of his physical body, but a test for the memory and presence that fades from remembrance. Such narratives invite the reader to contemplate the nature of presence and absence, memory and forgetting, and how stories and narratives are formed in the face of the unknown.

Key takeaways

• Mowlana's narrative of enigmatic loss: The verse illustrates how the absence of a person becomes the focal point for conjectures and the creation of stories.
• Absence is not merely an event, but a profound test of memory that can ultimately lead to complete oblivion.
• Through seemingly simple storytelling, Mowlana points to deeper ontological layers of the human condition and our relationship with presence and absence.