M6:1331 — کارزو را گر نرانم تا رود / آن طبیبم گفت کان علت شود

Translation: If I do not let this desire run its course, my physician told me it would become an ailment (illness). Meaning: This verse expresses a character's rationale for indulging an urge (in the narrative, a carnal desire), claiming that the suppression of desires inevitably leads to sickness.

This verse from the Masnavi is presented as the justification of a character within a narrative. In the specific story, this individual experiences a base urge to slap a Sufi. To legitimize this impulse, he declares: "If I do not let this desire run its course, my physician told me it would become an ailment (illness)." This is a form of 'I'll get sick if I don't do it' argumentation, deployed to rationalize an action that, in essence, may not only be unhealing but itself the very source of illness.

Immediately following this, Mowlana provides a further justification from the same character, stating: "I'll slap him in the fray, for God has said, 'Do not throw yourselves into destruction with your own hands.'" However, Mowlana's profound insight here, which is truly unparalleled, unfolds through the story of Hamza. Mowlana asks whether the Quranic verse, "And do not throw yourselves with your own hands into destruction" (Lā tulqū bi-ayḍīkum ilá al-tahlukah), applies to everyone and in every state. He answers, through the Hamza narrative, that it does not. Hamza, before embracing Islam and in his youth, would wear armor into battle because he perceived death as tahlukah (destruction), and thus this verse applied to him. However, after becoming Muslim and in his old age, he would enter the battlefield without armor. Why? Because in that spiritual ḥāl (state), death was no longer destruction for him, but rather a fatḥ-e bāb (an opening) to the realm of everlasting life. In this state, a different verse governed him: "Hasten to forgiveness from your Lord" (Sāriʿū ilá maghfiratiñ min rabbikum).

It is here that we arrive at one of Mowlana's deepest hermeneutical lessons: the verses and words of religion have diverse audiences and states of being. The meaning and judgment of a verse for someone who views death as destruction differs from one who regards it as an 'opening.' The physician who advises, "If I do not let this desire run its course, my physician told me it would become an ailment," spoke this truth concerning elevated and spiritual desires – those yearnings that, if suppressed, indeed sicken the soul. He did not speak it of a base, carnal desire like slapping a Sufi. By illustrating this misapplication of wisdom, Mowlana guides us toward discerning between true and false desires, and between the appropriate injunction for each spiritual state. This verse ultimately reveals that not every desire is worthy of gratification, and not every physician treats every ailment in the same way.

Key takeaways

• Not every desire warrants gratification; some impulses must be curbed for spiritual well-being.
• The interpretation of wise sayings and Quranic verses is contingent upon the spiritual state (ḥāl) and existential station of the individual.
• What constitutes 'destruction' for one person can be an 'opening' or gateway for another.
• It is crucial to discern between carnal desires and genuine spiritual longings, applying appropriate wisdom to each.