M6:1635 — بل حقیقت در حقیقت غرقه شد / زین سبب هفتاد بل صد فرقه شد

Translation: Rather, truth was drowned in truth; / For this reason, seventy, nay, a hundred sects arose. Meaning: This verse posits that the multiplicity and divergence of sects in the world stem not from ignorance or straying from a single truth, but from the boundless grandeur and intricate nature of truth itself.

This verse, a profound masterpiece by Rumi, offers a deep elucidation of the problem of the multiplicity of religions and sects, probing its roots in the depths of existence centuries before the discourse on pluralism in the West. Rumi here presents a perspective entirely distinct from that of Hafez.

Hafez, in his famous ghazal, says:

Forgive the quarrels of seventy-two sects, For they saw not the truth and trod the path of fable.

For Hafez, the multitude of sects and their conflicts are a consequence of ignorance and the failure to perceive a singular truth. Having not seen the truth, they turned to fables, each mistaking their own fable for truth, thus falling into strife. This is a Hafezian theory that attributes plurality to ignorance.

However, Rumi, with an altogether different insight, states precisely the opposite: "Rather, truth was drowned in truth." He contends that plurality, diversity, and pluralism arise not from ignorance of truth, but from the very abundance of truths! Truths are so numerous and intertwined that they have become submerged in one another. The oceans of truth are so vast and boundless that we grasp only a fragment of them. Every group, every sect, has apprehended a part of truth, and based on that part, believes it has found the right path; yet the comprehensive and total truth extends far beyond our partial perceptions. This is akin to the story of the elephant in the dark room, where each person touches a part of the elephant and, based on that, constructs an incomplete and differing image of the whole, believing they have grasped the entire truth.

This is Rumi's crucial point: the differences among sects are not due to their distance from truth, but rather due to their proximity to certain aspects of truth and their immersion in its vastness and profundity. Truth is so immense and multi-layered that each person clings to one facet of it. This, in my estimation, is one of the finest philosophical explanations for religious and intellectual pluralism available in our texts, and it should not be dismissed as a Western import, as some uninformed individuals might assume. This theory has deep roots in Islamic mysticism and a monotheistic worldview that regards multiplicity not as a flaw, but as a sign of the immense and infinite nature of the Divine essence.

Key takeaways

• The multiplicity of religions and sects stems from the vastness and profundity of truth, not from ignorance.
• Truth is so immersed in itself that each group perceives only a fragment of it.
• Rumi articulated a theory of religious pluralism centuries before its emergence in Western thought.
• Unlike Hafez, Rumi sees diversity and multiplicity not as a consequence of ignorance, but as a result of truth's grandeur and multi-layered nature.