M6:181 — گفت حق چشم خفاش بدخصال / بسته‌ام من ز آفتاب بی‌مثال

Translation: God said, "I have closed the eye of the ill-natured bat / From My incomparable Sun." Meaning: God declares that those with a bat-like disposition, due to their inherent deficiencies, are incapable of perceiving the unparalleled light of Truth and the Divine Sun.

I am firmly convinced that in this verse, Rumi, without a doubt, intends to refer to those very "fault-finders" and deniers who, not only in his time but in every era, pick flaws with the path of Truth and works like the Masnavi. He speaks from the tongue of Truth, as if God Himself is revealing this reality: the problem is not with the Sun, but with the eye of the bat. The bat is a symbol of a creature inherently at odds with light. It is not that the light fails to reach it, but rather, the bat itself, due to its inherent defect and ill-nature, shies away from the light. Rumi explicitly states elsewhere: "The little bat is not the enemy of the manifest sun; it became its own enemy by veiling itself." That is, the bat is not an enemy of the sun, but an enemy of itself, having imprisoned itself in the veil of darkness. This self-veiling is the result of crookedness and deficiency in its essence and insight. More importantly, Rumi does not limit this blindness solely to the Sun of Truth. In the continuation of these verses, he adds: "And from the deficient gazes of the bat / The stars and that Sun too are hidden." This means that from the bat's imperfect and flawed perspective, not only the Sun itself, but also the stars that revolve around it, remain concealed. This allusion by Rumi, I believe, has deep roots in Islamic culture and echoes the famous prophetic tradition: "My companions are like stars; by whichever of them you are guided, you will find your way." Sa'di too conveys this meaning in his words: "The Prophet is the luminous sun in the world / And these [companions] are great stars and guides." Therefore, those with bat-like dispositions are deprived not only of the sun of prophecy and divine guardianship, but also of the stars of companions and saints. This Quranic dictum, "He misleads many thereby and guides many thereby," finds its echo here. God says, "I have closed" the bat's eye, but this closing of the eye is not an arbitrary, deterministic act on God's part; rather, it is the natural and existential consequence of the bat's "ill-nature" (bad-khisāl). The inability to see the light is an inseparable part of the bat-like disposition. This is the fundamental point I have repeatedly emphasized: Rumi does not see the world as crooked and has no complaint against it. If anyone perceives crookedness, that crookedness resides in their own eye and gaze. Truth is clear and manifest, and whoever lacks the ability to see it must seek the defect within themselves, not in the incomparable Sun of Truth.

Key takeaways

• The flaw lies in the observer, not in Truth; the light shines, but the capacity for perception varies.
• Spiritual blindness and the failure to grasp truth stem from one's own inner dispositions and ill-nature.
• Those who deny truth essentially deprive themselves of it, and this deprivation is the consequence of their own actions.
• This verse serves as a decisive rebuke to the deniers and fault-finders of the path of Truth, the Prophet, his companions and saints, and the Masnavi itself.