M6:984 — مصطفی زین قصه چون خوش برشکفت / رغبت افزون گشت او را هم به گفت

Translation: When Mustafa blossomed happily from this story, His (Abu Bakr's) desire to speak further also grew. Meaning: This verse describes how the Prophet Muhammad's joyful reception of Abu Bakr's narrative encouraged Abu Bakr to continue and expand his discourse.

This beyt, without a doubt, is one of the pivotal passages in the Masnavi, illuminating the profound relationship between the speaker and the listener. Here we encounter a story involving the Prophet Muhammad and Abu Bakr, yet the spirit of Rumi carries a far loftier message behind this narrative. I have consistently emphasized that the Masnavi is not merely a book, but the product of a "conversational state"; it is the result of an unparalleled listener like Husam al-Din Chalabi. This beyt precisely reflects that truth.

Mustafa, in the role of a listener who hears with heart and soul, comes to blossom. "Happily blossomed" means he not only accepts the words with his intellect but with his entire being, with his delicate prophetic nature, allowing that discourse to flourish within him. This blossoming of Mustafa, in turn, energizes and inspires Abu Bakr. Abu Bakr's desire to speak "increased"; for he realized that his words had fallen on fertile ground, finding a place in a ready heart.

Rumi beautifully explains this phenomenon elsewhere in the Masnavi:

I deem it forbidden to speak with others, But when your discourse arises, I lengthen my speech.

This fragment demonstrates how well Rumi understood the value of the listener. Speaking, any speech, especially words of wisdom and gnosis, requires a receptive heart. One whose ears merely await the end of a discourse to begin their own is never a true "listener." But one who listens with their very soul invites the speaker to elaborate. This is the very secret that prompted the light-souled Rumi to dictate sixty thousand verses to Husam al-Din over fourteen years. Husam al-Din was a listener who heard Rumi in a "Mustafa-like" manner.

And again, as Rumi himself states:

When a listener like Mustafa was found, Every hair on his head became a separate tongue.

This imagery is astonishing. A listener who accompanies the speaker with their entire being, with their whole existence, as if bestowing a tongue upon every strand of the speaker's hair to harmonize with their words. This is no longer merely hearing; it is empathy and resonance, a type of shared discovery in which the speaker transitions from a state of contraction and "forbidding speech" to a state of expansion and "lengthening speech."

This beyt offers a profound lesson in human communication, especially in spiritual communication. Listening, true listening, not only augments the listener's knowledge but also enhances the speaker's power and motivation. Many truths remain locked within the hearts of their custodians for fear of finding "no listener." But if a listener like Mustafa, or like Husam al-Din, is found, those truths find their way out, and "every hair on their head becomes a tongue." This is an excellent description of a phenomenon I have called "Wahy-e Dil" (revelation of the heart) or "inspiration"; where the speaker connects to a source and speaks from within, but not from a solitary "self," rather from a self reflected and enriched in the mirror of the unparalleled listener.

Key takeaways

• The quality of the listener directly impacts the depth and expansion of the speaker's discourse.
• True listening generates an inner blossoming in the listener, which in turn inspires the speaker.
• The secret to the Masnavi's continuation lies in Rumi finding a 'listener like Mustafa' in Husam al-Din Chalabi.
• For Rumi, speaking of truth is conditional on the presence of a receptive and empathetic heart.
• This verse highlights the value of reciprocal communication and empathy in the transmission of spiritual knowledge.
• Reaching the state where 'every hair on his head became a separate tongue' signifies the ultimate companionship between listener and speaker.