M6:2241 — از صله‌ست و بی و سین زو وصل یافت / وصل بی و سین الف را بر نتافت

Translation: From a grace (ṣelah) did Bā and Sīn gain union, / Yet the union of Bā and Sīn could not bear the Alif. Meaning: This verse employs the grammatical phenomenon of the dropped Alif in Bism (from bi-ism, "in the name of") to illustrate how intense divine connection leads to the effacement of distinct forms. The Alif, though intrinsically present, cannot withstand the force of the letters Bā and Sīn uniting.

This profound verse from Mawlana, situated at the heart of his epistemology and ontology, points to a subtle truth regarding Tawhid (Divine Unity) and fana (annihilation). We are all familiar with "Bismillah"; a unique Quranic word where the Alif of ism (name) is graphically omitted. The letters Bā and Sīn attain union through ṣelah, a grace or connection, but this very bond between them is so intense and absolute that the Alif of ism cannot bear it and becomes effaced.

Mawlana here makes a singular and innovative inference from this scribal convention; he interprets the omission of the Alif as an emblem of the annihilation of multiplicity in the face of Divine Unity. I have repeatedly emphasized that the fire of Tawhid and Unity, once ignited, leaves nothing in its wake. This fire not only consumes the apparent saplings of the world but melts down khiyāl (imagination), ʿaql (intellect), fikr (thought), and all "conceptual frameworks" into itself. This is the truth Mawlana expresses: "Behold the soul's fire, from which imagination burns / Neither imagination nor reality has refuge / From such a fire that flares from the soul." This fire is the enemy of every "lion" and every "fox," meaning it abolishes all forms of distinction and multiplicity. Everything vanishes before it, as the Quran states: "Kullu shay’in hālikun illā wajhah" (Everything is perishing except His Face).

The Alif, though semantically and grammatically present – we read it as "bi-ismi Allah" – is formally annihilated and concealed. This is a linguistic model for "non-being" and "perishing" that Mawlana employs here. Existents are, in themselves, "perishing" and "non-existent," save for the aspect through which they face God. In this verse, the Alif of ism symbolizes everything that, in the face of the absolute grandeur of union and unity, cannot bear formal existence and tumbles into unitive non-being. This ṣelah, or divine grace, makes the union possible, and this very union is the cause of the annihilation of the forms of multiplicity.

Key takeaways

• This verse serves as a metaphor for the annihilation of multiplicity in the face of Divine Unity.
• The omission of the Alif in Bism illustrates the effacement of forms under the intensity of divine union.
• The fire of Tawhid (Unity) consumes imagination, thought, and all conceptual frameworks.
• All existents, except the Divine Face and Essence, are in a state of perishing and annihilation (the concept of Kullu shay’in hālikun illā wajhah).
• The verse exemplifies how even linguistic structures can carry the deepest ontological truths.