The Man Who Knocked On The Door Of A Friend

Mathnawi I: 3052-3067, 3077-3080, 3099-3100

(Regarding the verse), "Everything will perish except His Face,"* don't seekexistence if you are not within His Face.*

Whoever is annihilated* within My Face,* is not recompensed* by (the verse)"Everything will perish." (This is) because he is in (the condition of) "except(Him)," (and so) he has passed beyond "not (any divinity)."* Whoever is in"except (Him)" has not perished [from true Existence]. Whoever is saying"I" and "we" at the door is rejected at the door* and is (still) involvedin [the illusion of] "not (any divinity)."

The story of the person who knocked on the door of a friend. (The friend)said from within, "Who is that?" He answered, "It's me."* The friend said,"Since you are you, I will never open the door. I don't know anyone among(my) friends who is "me," (so) go (away)!"

Someone came (and) knocked on the door of a friend. His friend said, "Whoare you, O trustworthy one?" He answered, "Me." (The friend) said, "Go (away),it's not the (right) time. At such a table as this* there is no place forthe raw."* What can cook the raw one, except the fire of separation. What(else) can free him from hypocrisy? That poor miserable man left and traveledfor a year. He burned from sparks [of painful longing] in separation from(his) friend. That burned one became "cooked," (and) then returned. He wentback to the house of (his former) companion. (Using) the door-ring, he knockedat the door with a hundred worries and courtesies [in mind], so that no rudewords might spring forth from (his) lips.

His friend called out, "Who is that at the door?" He answered, "Only you*are at the door, O seizer of hearts!"*

(The friend) said, "Now, since you are me, O me, come in, (since) there'sno room for two 'me's' in the house.

"The two ends of the thread are not (suitable) for the needle. (So),

if you are a single strand,* come into the needle." (Only) the thread becomesconnected with the needle; the eye of the needle is not appropriate for acamel.*

The camel's existence can never become thin except by (means of) the shearsof strict exercises* and work.

(But) for that, O so-and-so, the Power of God is needed-- since it is the"Be! And it was"* for every (apparently) impossible (situation).

Know that the world of Unity is beyond the side (known to) the senses. (So)if you want Unity, ride toward that (other) side.

The (Divine) Command of "Be!" was a single act. And (although the letters)"B" and "E" occurred in words, the meaning is pure and unmixed.

-- From "The MathnawO-yE Ma`nawO" [Rhymed Couplets of Deep Spiritual Meaning]of Jalaluddin Rumi.

Translated from the Persian by Ibrahim Gamard (with gratitude for R.A.Nicholson's 1930 British translation)

Footnotes courtesy of Ibrahim Gamard

*His Face: from a verse in the Qur',n, altered for metrical purposes in amixture of the original Arabic words and Persian translation.

"And do not invoke (in prayer) another god besides (the One True) God. Thereis not (any) divinity except Him [l, il,ha ill, huwa].

Everything will perish except His Face [kullu shay-in h,lik-un ill, wajha-hu].With Him is the Judgment, and to Him (all of) you will be returned." (28:88)Muhammad Asad's translation reads,

"Everything is bound to perish, save His [eternal] Self." Asad explainedthat in classical Arabic, the word "face" can mean "the 'self' or 'wholebeing' of a person-- in this case, the essential Being, or Reality, of God."Nicholson made a similar interpretation that "Face" in Rumi's verse hereequals "Dh.t," or the Divine Essence.

(Commentary)

*if you are not in His Face: "i.e. 'seek only the real and essential existencewhich God bestows on those who have abandoned their imaginary and phenomenalself-existence (hastI)'." (Nicholson, Commentary) For advanced sufis, "(separate)existence is a sin [khaT,]"-- or a wrong, an error (Mathnawi I: 517; Nicholson'sCommentary on this line includes a verse from the sufi master Junayd (died,910): "When I say, 'What sin [dhanb] have I committed'? she says in reply,/'Your life/self-existence is a sin with which no sin can be compared'.")

*annihilated [fan,]: a technical term in sufism, meaning "mystical death"or passing away from the transient (such as one's thoughts, personality,and identity) and remaining in essential subsistence [baq,] in God. Theseterms are based on the Qur'anic verse: "All that is upon (the earth) willpass away [f,n-in], but the Face of your Lord will abide [yabq,], full ofMajesty and Glory." (55:26-27) *within My Face: "Here the poet speaks withthe voice of God."

(Nicholson, Commentary) Nicholson translated, "When any one has passed away(from himself) in my face (essence)..."

*is not recompensed: Nicholson translated, "(the words) everything is perishingare not applicable (to him)."

*"except (Him)" and "not (any divinity)": refer to the verse quoted above:"There is not (any) divinity except Him." "l. [= "not"] equals the self-existencewhich really is non-existence; ill. [= "except"] equals real existence inGod." (Nicholson, Commentary) *at the door Nicholson translated, "at thedoor (of the Divine Court)."

*It's me: "This famous apologue may have been suggested, as the Turkishcommentators believe by a HadIth.... 'I came to the Prophet's door and knocked.He said, "Who is there?" I answered, "I". He said, "I", "I", as though hedisliked it.'" (Nicholson, Commentary).

*At such a table as this: means, "at such a mystical feast." The word translatedas "table" means a cloth placed on the ground or floor, around which peopleate their meals. *raw [kh,m]: a technical sufi term which also means unripe,immature, inexperienced, unprepared, unrefined, uncooked, bearing no fruit.Means immature on the spiritual path, and is the opposite of "ripe" or "cooked"[pokhta]. Rumi has been quoted as saying, "The result of my life is no morethan three words: I was raw [kh,m], I became cooked [pokhta], I was burnt[sokht]." However, in the earliest manuscripts, this line is: "The resultfor me is no more than these three words: I am burnt, I am burnt, I am burnt."(DOv,n, ghazal 1768).

*Only you: Nicholson comments, "According to the early sufi SarI al-SaqatI[died, 867], there is no true love between two persons till each says tothe other, 'y. ana,' 'O (thou who art) I.'" He also mentions ". . .the verseof Hall.j [died 922], 'I beheld my Lord with the eye of my Lord. He said,"Who art thou?" I answered, 'Thou' "

(Commentary)

*seizer of hearts: an idiom meaning "beloved who has won the love of my heart."

*a single strand: "The mystic becomes 'single' when he ceases to be consciousof himself as an alter ego besides God, who is the only real Ego." (Nicholson,Commentary)

*camel: a reference to the verse, ". . . nor will they enter the Garden,until the camel can pass through the eye of the needle: such is Our rewardfor those in sin." (Qur'an 7:40)

*strict exercises [riy,z,t]: a technical sufi term for austere disciplines(usually assigned by a spiritual master) so that the disciple may becomespiritually matured and "cooked." And here it means that the "camel" of egoand ego-centered cravings may become thin and thread-like.

* Be and it was: a modification (for purposes of rhyme and meter) of theQur'anic words (as in 19:35): "When He determines a matter,

He only says to it, 'Be!' and it is [kun fa-yak*n]."

*the letters "B" and "E" [of the word "Be!"]: In the text, the letters are"K" and "N" in the Arabic word "kun," which means "Be!." In the earliestArabic of the Qur'an, only the consonants were written-- "kn"-- and the vowel"u" was not (but was added in latter copies as a mark above the consonantletters). "Although the Creative Word KuN consists of two letters, yetessentially it is one, and its effect, i.e. its bringing the whole contingentuniverse into being, is single; it may be compared to a noose which, thoughdouble in form, has but one meaning and object, namely, to draw the world,hidden in the knowledge of God, from potential into actual existence. Khut'b[= "important matters"-- translated by Nicholson as "great affairs"] refersto the great issues at stake in the life-experience of the soul." (Nicholson,Commentary)

*the non-existent: in Islamic philosophy, the term "non-existent"

here means something which has essential existence (in the "Mind of God,"so to speak) in the world of non-existent essences. By means of the DivineCommand, "Be!", such essences are manifested in the material world of existence.

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kullu shay-in h,lik-un joz wajh-E U

ch*n na-O dar wajh-E U hastO ma-jU

har-ke andar wajh-E m, b,sh-ad fan,

kulla shay-in h,lik-un na-b'w-ad jaz,

z-,n-ke dar ill,-st U az l, goZasht

har-ke dar ill,-st U f,nO na-gasht

har-ke bar dar U man-o m, mI-zan-ad

radd-E b,b-ast U-wo bar l, mI-tan-ad

qiSSa-yE ,n kas ke dar-E y,rI be-kUft az dar*n goft kO-st ,n, goft

man-am, goft ch*n tU tow-O dar na-mI-gosh,y-am hIch kas-r, az

y,r-,n na-mI-shen,s-am ke U man b,sh-ad, be-raw

,n yakI ,m-ad dar-E y,rI be-zad

goft y,r-ash kO-st-O ay mu`tamad?

goft man, goft-ash be-raw hang,m nIst

bar chon-On khw,nI maq,m-E kh,m nIst

kh,m-r, joz ,tesh-E hajr-o fir,q

kay paz-ad, kay w, rah,n-ad az nif,q?

raft ,n miskOn-o s,lI dar safar

dar fir,q-E dUst sUzOd az sharar

pokhta gasht ,n sUkhta pas b,z gasht

b,z gard-E kh,na-yE ham-b,z gasht

Halqa zad bar dar ba-Sad tars-o adab

t, be-na-j'h-ad bI-adab lafZI ze-lab

b,ng zad y,r-ash ke bar dar kO-st ,n?

goft bar dar ham tU'O ay del-set,n

goft akn*n ch*n man-O, ay man dar ,

nIst gonj,y-E dU man-r, dar sar,

nIst sUzan-r, sar-E reshta-yI dU-t,

ch*n-ke yak-t,y-O dar-On sUzan dar ,

reshta-r, b, sUzan ,m-ad irtib,T

nIst dar khwar b, jamal sammu 'l-khiy,T

kay shaw-ad b,rOk hastiy-E jamal

joz ba miqr,Z-E riy,Z,t-o `amal?

dast-E Haq b,y-ad mar ,n-r, ay ful,n

k-U bow-ad bar har muH,lI kun fa-k,n

. . . . . . . . .

goft y,r-ash k-andar , ay jomla man
nay mukh,lif ch*n gol-o kh,r-E chaman

reshta yakt, shod, ghalaT kam shaw kon*n
gar dU-t, bOn-O Hur*f-E k,f-o n*n

k,f-o n*n ham-ch*n kamand ,mad jaZ*b
t, kash,n-ad mar `adam-r, dar khuT*b

pas dU-t, b,y-ad kamand andar Suwar
gar-che yakt, bash-ad ,n dU dar aSar

. . . . . . . . .

z-,n sUy-E His `,lam-E tawHOd d,n
gar yakO khw,h-O, ba-d-,n j,nib be-r,n

amr-E kon yak fa`l b*d-o n*n-o k,f
dar sokhon oft,d-o ma`n* b*d S,f

-- Persian transliteration courtesy of Ibrahim Gamard