M6:40 — ذره‌ای کان محو شد در آفتاب / جنگ او بیرون شد از وصف و حساب

Translation: A particle that was effaced in the sun, Its struggle went beyond description and reckoning. Meaning: This verse explains that when a part unites with the whole and becomes annihilated within it, all its existential conflicts and struggles are resolved, leading to a state of absolute peace.

This verse from Book Six of the Masnavi arises from Mawlana's preceding discussion on the pervasive state of conflict in the universe. He had previously stated: "This world is entirely war, if you look / Particle by particle, one particle with another, like religion with unbelief." This inherent struggle, I contend, stems either from the contradictory nature of things themselves or from the manifestation of God's attributes of Glory (jalāl) and Beauty (jamāl) which appear as Wrath (qahr) and Grace (lutf)—and thus, conflict—in the realm of nature. However, the crucial point is that these conflicts are temporary; they ultimately resolve into peace. But this peace is only attainable through fanā—annihilation or effacement.

Mawlana illustrates this profound concept through the metaphor of "a particle that was effaced in the sun." According to ancient belief, particles of light emanate from the sun and eventually return to it. If such a particle effaces itself in the sun, its individual "war" or struggle is no longer describable or calculable; it ceases to exist as a separate entity engaged in conflict. This signifies its arrival at a "region of peace." The struggle that departs from it is, in essence, a struggle that is no struggle at all—a state utterly beyond our human conception of strife and contention.

I have previously stressed that when anything returns to its origin and is annihilated within it, no conflict remains. There is no conflict in God's essence; divisions and contradictions arise only when divine names and attributes manifest in the manifold instances of the phenomenal world. Therefore, when "nafs and nafas" (meaning all its capacities and very existence, as Mawlana clarifies) are taken from the particle and it is effaced in the sun, "its struggle is now the struggle of the sun, and that's all"—and the sun, in truth, struggles with no one. This is a Quranic echo of "Indeed, to Him we will return" (Inna lillahi wa inna ilayhi raji'un), which Mawlana articulates as: "From it departed movement and fever, the movement of nature and stillness / Why? Because of 'Indeed, to Him we return'." When we return to the source, even opposing concepts like movement and stillness vanish from us, for they belong to the realm of opposites. Once we transcend that realm, neither holds any meaning.

This is a most vital point: just as conflicts disappear when you reach the source of religions (for example, the Prophet of Islam is neither Sunni nor Shia, but both derive from him), so too do all differences and conflicts crumble when you return to the Absolute Truth. The particle in the sun exemplifies this liberation from contradictions. We become nourished by the "original suckling" (radhāʿ-i aṣl); we no longer seek milk from wet nurses but are fed directly from the primordial mother. This effacement and return is not an evolutionary process in the Darwinian sense, but an existential and spiritual return to one's own origin, which is the very purpose of creation—a telos defined for the soul. This station is none other than "unity of actions" (tawḥīd-i afʿālī), ultimately without falling into fatalism, for Mawlana himself understood this, stating: "This is not compulsion, this is the meaning of omnipotence / The mention of omnipotence is for lamentation."

Key takeaways

• Effacement in one's origin brings an end to all existential conflicts and struggles.
• There is no conflict in the Divine Essence; strife and multiplicity are products of God's attributes manifesting in the natural world.
• Returning to the source of being (from "Indeed, to Him we will return") transcends the individual beyond the realm of opposites.
• Annihilation in Truth dissolves individual identity and its contradictory aspects, leading to absolute peace.
• This return is an ontological and spiritual journey to the purpose of creation, not a Darwinian evolution.