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ULUSLARARASI DÜŞÜNCE ve SANATTA MEVLANA

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May, 25-28 Mayıs 2006 Çanakkale

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GHAZAL AS AUTOBIOGRAPHY: THE MYSTICAL METAMORPHOSIS OF MAWLANA

Talia Rashid GANGOO

(ABSTRACT) This paper argues that ghazal #250 of the D'fviin-i Shams-i Tabrzz, which begins "Hin, ke man-am bar dar, dar bar goshii," allegorically recounts Mawliinii's emotions leading up to and immediately after the most transformatİonaJ moment of his life: union with the object of his longing, Shams. ı Comprised of seventeen lines, the internal structure of the ghazal is such that it can be broken into four fu~ül, or segments, and one concluding cap. Each of these segments acts as extended metaphors constituting different scenes on one grand stage. When interpreted holistically, ghazal #250 corresponds to Mawliinii's life before his union with Shams, the climatic time of the union itself, and his life post-union. Woven from a myriad of symbols and polychromatic images, there must be no doubt that the single coherent theme of ghazal #250 is Mawliinii's metamorphosis, his change of mystical stations.

BİR OTOBİYOGRAFİ OLARAK GAZEL: MEVLANA'NIN MiSTİK METAMORFOZU (ÖZET)

Bu makale Divan-ı Şems-i Tebrizi'de yer alan, "Hin, ke man-am bar dar, dar bar gosha" satınyla başlayan 250 numaralı gazelin MevHina'nın hayatındaki önemli bir değişim anının: Şems'le buluşması anındaki duygularını anlattığını iddia ediyor. On yedi satırdan oluşan bu gazel, dört ayn bölüm ya da parça ve bir sonuçtan oluşur. Bu bölümlerin her birinin bire metafor fonksiyonu olup büyük bir sahnede farklı perdeler gibidir. Bir bütün olarak yorumlanınca 250 numaralı gazel Mevlana'nın Şems'e kavuşmasından önceki hayati, Semse kavuşma anındaki cezbe hali, ve MevHJ.na'nın kavuşma-sonrası hayatına tekabül eder. Sayısız sembollerle örülü olan 250 numaralı gazelin teması hiç şüphesiz Mevlana'nın metamorfozu, onun mistik halindeki değişimdir.

I read the story of the lovers day and night-Now I have become a story in my love for you!

(qtd. in Schimmel, Veil 101 from Mawliinii's D'iviin)

The passionate love story between Mawliinii and his beloved spiritual master Shams is captured most profoundly in ghazal #250 of the Dfviin-i Shams-i Tabrlz. As I shall argue, this particular ghazal can be read as Mawliinii's autobiography for it relates the intimate feelings and emotions surrounding the most pivotal and dramatic moment of Mawliinii's life: union with his beloved Shams. Mawliinii's initial meeting with the enigmatic Shams and the few years they would spend together magically metamorphosed Mawliinii from an acadernic to a singing, whirling Sufı who intoned more than 62,000 verses of poetry. Mawliinii considered Shams to be a ray of light-an emanation of God who served as a polisbed rnirror for the Divine. In fact, Mawliinii reaclıed "complete · annihilation (janii') in Shams" (Schimmel, "Rümf' 7936). For Mawliinii, fanii' in a polisbed mirror for God was undifferentiated fromfanii' in God.

Possessing a highly kinetic structure, ghazal #250 is composed of seventeen lines that can be separated into four fu~ül, or segments, of four bayts each and one final cap [(4 X 4) + 1)]. Able to stand independently, these four segments function as extended metaphors that create four unique and imaginative backdrops for the love story between Mawliinii and Shams. When considered holistically, ghazal #250 splits neatly into three episodes that correspond to Mawliinii's life pre-union, at the time of union itself, and post-union. The X-axis of time constantly rushes forward throughout the ghazal

Author's Note: This paper draws ona much longer version written in May 2005 as a term paper for my Classical Persian Poetry class with Professor Gernot Windfuhr at the University of Michigan. I wish to express my deepest gratitude to Professor Windfuhr for introducing me to this ghazal and for his insightful comments on earlier drafts of this paper. I would also like to thank Vika Gardner for her careful scrutiny and constructive feedback. Due to space lirnitations, the original paper' s detailed discussion of the ghazal' s rhetorical techniques and sonic patterns could not be included here. ı Ghazal #250 appears in volume I of Kulllyiit-i Shams yii D"iviin-i kabfr edited by Badi' al-Zaman Furüziinfar. (Tehran: Amir Kabir, 1977), p. 156.

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with the exception of one momentous rupture-the very instant of union between Mawlana and Shams, the lover and the beloved. In passing through each phase, Mawlana undergoes a metamorphosis and attains spiritual wisdom that advances him along the Sufi path of lo ve. Thus, this ghazal serves both as a testament of Mawlana's union with his beloved as well as a chronicle of his spiritual journey.

Replete with both wondrous and mundane symbols, Ma w lana' s colorful ghazal offers his readers/listeners a delight for both the mind and the mind's eye. As alluded to earlier, the ghazal can be broken down in to the following format: lin es 1-4, lin es 5-8, lin es 9-12, lin es 13-16, and line 17. In the next several sections, I will examine the four fu:ıül and the final cap independently, that is, as disparate entities. EachfU:ıül represents a scene of a four-act play, and I will interpret the rich imagery of each in a fair amount of detail.Z The latter seetion of this paper will discuss the overall structure of the ghazal and offer a halistic analysis.

Fuşül A: Lines 1-4

1 H in, ke man-am bar dar, dar bar goshii hastan-e dar ni-st neshan-e rezii 2 dar del har z.arre to-ra dar-gah-i-st ta na-goshii''i, bov-ad an dar khafii 3 fiileq-e a:ıbii/:ı-i o rabb ol-falaq, baz kon-i :ıad dar o gü-''i: dar-ii! 4 neykeman-am bar-e dar, balki to 'i riih be-deh, dar be-goshii kh'ish rii3

la Hurry! lt' s me at the door, open the door 1 b Closing the door is not a sign of contentment 2a Every atom in the heart is a door-way for you 2b Unless you open (it) [alt., yourself], that door will be hidden 3a You are 'The Splitter ofDawns' and 'The Lord ofDaybreak' 3b You open ah undred doors and say: 'Come out!' 4a It' s not me who' s at the door, but it' s you 4b Give way, open the door to your own self [alt., kin]4

This first segment can be seen as an extended metaphor where the central subject is the dfır, or "door, gate," and the principal verb is goshii, or "open." In fact, the word dar astonishingly appears ten times in these four lines (seven as "door," once as a preposition, once as a pre-verbal partide, and once in the compound word dargah),5 and the verb goshii occurs three times. The opening exelamation "Hin" or "Hurry, Make haste!" imparts a sense of urgency and anxiety. The speaker of the poem who is standing by the door of a house or a room issues a command for the porter to "open" this door. The speaker goes on to tell the porter that having the door closed is not the sign of "contentment" or "pleasure." Given this "openldoor" theme, the ho sn-e matla ', or opening line, can be seen as an invitation that Mawliina is extending towards the audience - an invitation to come, "open" your ears, and listen to this amusing ghazal.

In line 3a we see that Mawlana borrows two titles for God, "flileq-e a:ıbafı-i" and "rabb ol-falaq," from the Qur'an thus rendering ghazal #250 intertextual and eternally linked to the Word of God. "Fiileq-e a:ıbiil:ıi" is the Persianized version of ''fiileq ul-isbiil:ı" (6:96), while the second title, "rabb ol1alaq," (113:1) appears in the ghazal in the Arabic form. The words ''fiileq" and ''falaq" come from the same Arabic triliteral root ''f-l-q" which as a Form 1 verb implies the meaning "to split, cleave, break" (Lane 2441). lt is quite possible that Mawliina could be using the word falaq, "the cleaving of darkness and the manifestation of light," to indicate the time reference of the ghazal (Ali, f.n. 6303, 1808). The well-regarded Qur'an commentatar A. Yusuf Ali writes that:

Falaq . .. may be understood in various senses: (1) literally, when the darkness of the night is at its worst, rays of light pierce through and produce the dawn; (2) when the darkness of ignorance is at its worst, the light of God pierces through the soul and gives it enlightenment ... ; (3) non-existence is darkness, and life and activity may be typified by light. The author

2 I would like to thank Professor Windfuhr for introducing me to the approach of reading poetry as a staged play in successive acts with actors, plot, setting, ete. 3 The transliteration of ghazal #250 presented in this paper is a slightly modified version of one provided to me by Professor Windfuhr (Word file, "Rumi #250, #302.rtf'; Word file, "Txt w5 Rumi #250 Listen Hin.doc") since I have adopted the ALA-Library of Congress transliteration scheme for Persian consonants. 4 I am using Professor Windfuhr's translation (Word file, "Txt w5 Rumi #250 Listen Hin.doc"). 5 My thanks to Professor Windfuhr for pointing this out.

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and source of all true light is God, and if we seek Him, we are free from ignorance, superstition, fear, and every kind of evil. (Ali, f.n. 6302, 1808)

The night, therefore, can represent evil, fear, ignorance, and non-existence, whereas the dawn symbolizes light, enlightenment, life, and action.

In the second hemistich of line 3, the speaker reminds the porter (identified as "The Lord of the Daybreak") that he opens a hundred doors and says "dar-ii!", or "Come out!" (dar in the pre-verbal position means "out").6 However, the phrase "dar-ii!" can alternatively be translated as "in alef' or "in God" since the letter alef in Islarnic tradition stands for Allah.7 The "in" and "out" meanings of dar point to an interesting paradox in this segment w hi ch represents the liminality of the speaker who is neither "in" nor "out" but in that indeterrninable time and space where he is waiting at the threshold to be let through the gate.

In the final bayt of this segment, the speaker reiterates that he himself is not the door-keeper, but that it is "The Lord of the Daybreak" w h om he is addressing who is the true porter. The segment concludes with the speaker making one final request for the porter to "make way" and "open the door" for his "own self," or, alternatively, his "kin"; thus, the segment ends with a command just as the ghazal began.

What can be said of the setting of this segment? As mentioned earlier, the word dar appears in this segment seven times as "door." Especially noteworthy is the fact that the word del also appears in this poem exactly seven times. 8 This seems to reinforce the notion that the dar and the del are indeed metaphorically linked and even interchangeable. After all, each particle of the heart forms a "door-way," or dargah for the heart (line 2a). Annemarie Schimmel notes that "in order to enter the precincts of the house, one has to cross the threshold, the liminal place par exeellence that cu ts off the sacred and the profane" (Signs 50). The speaker thus stands at the threshold between the sacred and profane realms where he is demanding to approach the Divine; the door, then, "allows the visitor to enter the private, 'sacred' sphere" (Signs 50). Schimmel further mentions that in Islamic thought God is known as the mufattil:ı al-abwiib, or the "Opener of Doors" (Signs 50). God opens "the doors of His mercy or generosity," but more significantly for this context considering the appearance of del and dar seven times, God opens the seven gates of Paradise, the Eternal Garden (Signs 50). God as the mufattih al-abwiib corresponds nicely with Mawli:ina's image that "the Lord of the Daybreak" is the porter/opener of the door. One can, therefore, conclude that the setting of this segment is the lirninal space between Heaven and Earth.

Yet one more understanding of the word dar can be extrapolated. Schimmel points out that "As the gate, biib, can be the person through whom the believer may be led into the Divine presence, it is logical that the spiritual guide could also be considered, or consider himself, to be The Gate, the Bab" (Signs 50-51). Thus, if we transfer this meaning of bab to its equivalent dar, then logically Shams, MawHina's beloved spiritual guide, would be the dar. Shams would be the "gate" or the "door" itself, and God would remain the mufattil:ı al-abwiib, the "porter" or the "door-keeper" of Paradise. By entering through Shams, the "door," one can arrive at Paradise, the place of rezii (the last word of line 4b), or eternal pleasure and contentment. Adopting the notion that Mawlana committedfanii' in Shams, this "entering" through Shams takes on an entirely new meaning for it can be thought of as Mawlana literally stepping into Shams, that is, the dissolution of his own identity and taking up the identity of his beloved. However, this "stepping in to Shams" has not been actualized in this segment because his request for the door to be opened has not been answered; his desire for union remains unfulfilled. The sense of liminality is amplified with the use of the word ''falaq" since "dawn" itself is between day and night; it is the time when the sun, "Shams," is about to emerge, that is, to come out of concealment (khafii-line 2b). True enlightenment, therefore, is on the verge of taking place. This foreshadows the fact that the speaker' s desire for union will be fulfilled later on in the ghazal.

Fu~ ül B: Lin es 5-8

5 Amad kebrlt bar-e iitash-1 6 şürat-e man, şürat-e tô ni-st llk 7 şürat o ma'nii to shav-am chun ras-I 8 iitash goft-ash ke: berun amad-am Sa Came sulfur upon a fire

goft be rün ii, bar man, del-bar-ii! jomle-ye to-m, şürat-e man chun ghe.tii maf:ıv shav-ad şürat-e man dar leqii az khod-e khod, rüy be-püsh-am che-rii?

6 I would like to thank Professor Windfuhr for indicating this to me. 7 I wish to acknowledge Professor Windfuhr for bringing this second interpretation to my attention. 8 Again, I would like to thank Professor Windfuhr for pointing this out to me.

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Sb lt said: 'Come out to me, o beloved! 6a My form is not your form, yet 6b I am wholly you, (only) my form is like a veil. 7a (In) form and spirit, I become you, and when you reach me 7b My form becomes annihilated in the encounter.' Sa Fire said (to the sulfur): 'I have (already) come out. Sb Why should I cover my face/outer form from myself?'9

Set in an alchemist's laboratory, the second segment is an extended metaphor where the two central characters, the sulfur (kibrit) and the fire (iitash) are engaged in a dialogue with each other. Through the interaction between the two, we can discem several oppositions at play: the "inflammable"/the fire, the extemal form/the inner form, outside/inside, and veiling/unveiling. Kibr'it, brimstone or sulfur in Arabic and Persian, was one of the principal elements used by medieval alchemists who regarded it as "umm al-dhahab," or "the mother of gold," and "al- 'arüs al-~afrii' ," or "the yellow bride" ("Al-Kibrit"). The most significant quality of sulfur, of course, is its inflammability. The sulfur seeks to be annihilated just like the moth who ultimately "casts itself into the flame to 'become flame'" (Schimmel, World 194).

The meeting between the two begins when the sulfur comes upon the fire which it addresses as its "beloved" and commands it to "Come outside!" The sulfur goes on to say that its exterior, i.e., its "yellowness," is like a "veil": its yellowness is nothing like the outer form, or "redness," of its beloved fire. While the two do not resemble each other superficially, the sulfur insists that it is a composite of all of the fire' s components; that is, the sulfur claims that they share the same internal composition. The sulfur informs the fire that in both form and spirit it becomes (form of the verb shodan) the fire precisely at the moment when the fire "arrives" thus alluding to the setting abiaze of the sulfur. During the combustion, the sulfur undergoes a chemical change, resulting in the sulfur disappearing during the "encounter" (leqii). Interestingly, the color yellow in Muslim lore indicates languor: "Y ellow points to weakness, as the weak yellow straw and the pale lover lack fire and life-giving blood" (Schimmel, Signs 16). The yellowness of the sulfur thus indicates the absence of life, blood, vigor, and fieriness; it will remain yellow and enfeebled as long as it is devoid of fire, its beloved.

The fire's curious rhetorical question, "Why should I cover my face/outer form from myself?" which appears in the last line of the segment (Sb) implies that the fire is somehow concealed or veiled. Why would the fire be veiled? The fire can represent the Divine, which like the sun is simultaneously "beautiful and dangerous" and therefore "far too glorious to be seen without veils" (Schimmel, Veil 10S; World 7S). As Schimmel remarks, it is for this reason that "the word rüpüsh 'cover for the face,' appears frequently in Maulana's poetry" (World 7S). In Fihi ma fih, Mawlana offers his own charming explanation:

God has created these 'veils' for a good purpose. If He showed his beauty without a veil, we would not be able to bear it or benefit from it because we are benefited and strengthened indirectly. You see the sun? In its light we come and go; we see, and we are able to distinguish good from bad. In it we warm ourselves. Because of it, trees and gardens bear fruit. In its heat, bitter and sour unripe fruit becomes ripe and sweet. Under its influence, mines of gold, sil ver, ruby, and sapphire came to be. If this same sun, which is so benefidal indirectly, were to come closer, not only would it give no benefit but it would cause the whole world and everything in it to bum up and perish. When God manifests himself through a veil to a mountain, the mountain becomes full of trees and flowers, bedecked with greenery. But if He were to manifest himself without a veil, the mountain would be crushed and crumble to dust. But when his Lord appeared with glory in the mount, He reduced it to dust [7:143]. (Rümi, Discourses 37)

One could compellingly argue that for Mawliina, the fire represents Shams. The sulfur's desire to meet the fire, that is, to become ignited and to become fire, is like Mawlana's longing to meet Shams-to become abiaze with his spirit, to become one with him. The sulfur' s wish to disappear during its encounter with the fire perfectly mirrors Mawlana's desire for fanii' in Shams. As we can see from this segment, the sulfur' s longing to be set on fire has yet to be fulfilled; the desire still persis ts.

9 I am using Professor Windfuhr's translation (Word file, "Txt wS Rumi #2SO Listen Hin.doc"), although I have slightly modified his translations of lines Sb, 7a, and 7b.

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Fuşul C: Lines 9-12

9 Hin, be-setiin, az man tablig h kon 10 kuh agar hast, chu kiih-ash be-kash 1 ı kiihrobiiy-e man kuh ml-kash-ad

bar hame aşfıiib o hame aqrebii diide-am-at man şefat-e kahrobii na az 'odm iivard-am kuh-e T:ıerii? suy-e del-e khlsh biy-ii! marJ:ıabii! 12 dar del-e tö jomle man-am sar be sar

9a Hurry! Take (this) from me and carry it 9b To all companions (of the heart) and kindred (spirits) ı Oa If there is a mountain, attract it like straw lOb (For) I've given you the quality of amber lla My amber (now) attracts mountains 1 lb Did I not bring forth Mt. Hira from non-existence? 12a I am wholly in your heart, end to end, 12b So come towards your own heart! Hello! 10

The expressian "Hin" reappears in the ghazal's central and transitional line, the hosn-e makhla!j. The deliberate recurrence of "Hin" links the central line to the opening line and imparts symmetry. lt unambiguously alerts the listener/reader that the ghazal isembarking ona new phase. This segment can be thought of as an extended metaphor of Prophet Muhammad's numinous encounter at Mt. Hira; in fact, Mt. Hira, the site where Muharnmad received his first revelation of the Qur'an, serves as the setting for thisjUşul. Here again, Mawlana uses elements of nature, specifically the amber (kahrobii) and the mountain (kiih), to convey the feelings of mysterium tremendum et fascinans.

The cave as "the great womb of earth and sky" not only symbolizes creation, but it is also the liminal space par exeellence for it "constitutes a break in the homogeneity of space, an opening that is a passage from one cosmic region to another, from heaven to earth ... " (Heyden 1468). It is in this latter respect that the ca ve of Mt. Hira is similar to the threshold of segment A. But, the ca ve of Mt. Hira, as mentioned above, also happens to be the site where the Arehangel Gabriel appeared to Muhammad with the first words of the Qur' an. Thus, the line "na az 'odm iivard-am kuh-e herii ?" is of particular interest here because it wittingly juxtaposes two contrasting ideas: Mt. Hira' s association as the birth-place of the Qur' an with 'odm, or non-existence.

Arnher (kahrobii), a natural creation of the earth, is distinguished by its honey-colored or golden hue. Often used for ornamentation, amber passesses the power of developing an electrlcal charge by friction. In this portion of the ghazal, it is clear that Mawlana playson amber's magnetic quality. Schimmel argues that kahrobii which literally means the "straw robber," symbolizes love for it "attracts not only tiny wisps of straw (which resemble the lover's pale cheeks) but even the mighty mountains. It isa magnet, drawing to it all hearts, these tiny iron slivers" (World ı76). I, however, am inclined to believe that in this particular ghazal, amber does not represent love but rather the beloved. This is because the straw (the lover) is attracted to the amber (the beloved) precisely because of its magnetic property. I read this segment of the ghazal as a dialogue between the straw and the amber. It can be set up as follows:

(Speaker) Straw!Lover:

Amber/Beloved:

(Speaker) Straw/Lover:

"Hurry! Take (this) [i.e., the heart] from me and carry it to all companions (of the heart) and kindred (spirits)." "If there is a mountain, attract it like straw (for) I' ve given you the quality of amber." "My arnher (now) attracts mountains. Did I not bring forth Mt. Hira from non-existence?

I am wholly in your heart, end to end, so come towards your own heart! Hello!"

The strawllover, perhaps in a moment of weakness, implores the amberlbeloved to take away his heart and deliver it to his friends and kin. The kin mentioned here harkens back to the khlsh of the first segment, while the appearance of tabllgh, or "bringing, conveying or delivering," (Lane 251) recalls the Prophet's canveyance of the Divine Message to his relatives and companions. This allusion, along with the reference to Mt. Hira, implicitly compares the speaker/lover with the Prophet.

The arnher responds to the straw by revealing to him that he has granted him the quality of amber, that is, its magnetic power. W e can understand the beloved's statement asa performative one,

10 I am using Professor Windfuhr's translation (Word file, "Txt w5 Rumi #250 Listen Hin.doc").

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that is, the action that is uttered is actually performed, or enacted, at that very moment. Thus, when the beloved says, "I've given you the quality of amber," he performs the act of "giving." The evidence that the beloved's statement is indeed performative and not constative comesin the next line when the lover asserts: "kiihrobiiy-e man kuh m'i-kash-ad," which literally means "my arnher (now) attracts mountains," or in other words, "my property of amber, that is, my magnetic power (now) attracts mountains." The most significant and teliing aspect of the lover's statement is that the verb occurs in the present tense (m'i-kash-atf). Therefore, what the amberlbeloved has in fact done is bestow upon the straw!lover a property or attribute of himself-this, of course, echoes the notions of the Divine Attributes of God (şefiit).

Out of sheer amazement of his ability to attract mountains as if they were specks of dust, the lover boasts, "Did I not bring forth Mt. Hira from non-existence?" The lover's rather audacious, shat~-like claim proves his experience of mysterium fascinans. But, the lover has still not yet achieved union with the beloved. This is because when the lover declares, "I am wholly in your heart," he reveals that he has not yet united with the beloved because he is stili acknowledging him as a second-person "other." As long as the lover predicates duality; his desire for union will continue to go unfulfilled. ı ı

Fuşiil D: Lines 13-16

13 del-bar-am ö del bar-am, 'i-rii ke hast 14 naql kon-am v-ar na-kon-am saye-ra 15 l'ik ze jiiy-ash be-bar-am tii shav-ad 16 ta ke be-dan-ad ke üfar'-e ma-st

jowhar-e del zade ze daryay-e ma saye-ye man key bov-ad az manjodii? voşlat-e ü ziiher vaqt-e jelii tii ke }oda gard-ad ü az 'ada

13a I am the beloved, and I take the heart because 13b The essence of the heart w as bom out of our ocean 14a I take my shadow, for ifi didn't 14b My shadow would be apart from me [alt., How could my shadow be separated

from me?] 15a But 1'11 take it [i. e., the shadow] from its place so that 15b The union becomes manifest at the time of the unveiling 16a So that it [i.e., the shadow] knows that it is the best part of us 16b So that it [i.e., the shadow] is protected from transgressingı2

When compared with the three previous segments, it becomes clear that fuşül D represents the culmination of the ghazal. This section, I believe, is not a dialogue, but rather a monologue given by the speaker!lover where he reveals the fulfillment of his highest goal. In line 5b, the word "del-bar" occurs, but it also reappears in line 13a. What is the difference? It is a tremendous one. In line 5b, the speaker is addressing the beloved by exclaiming "del-bar-ii!" meaning "O beloved!" However, in line 13a, the speaker!lover proclaims "del-bar-am" meaning "I am the beloved"! What has taken place is that the speaker!lover has effectively become a "ma'shüq," or a "beloved," which occurs when the lover "becomes the beloved of the beloved, the desired of the desirecf' (Emst 453; italics added). As further evidence, the use of the first person plural possessive enditic "ma" in "daryiiy-e mii" in this very line (13b) indicates the speaker/lover's complete identification with the beloved. For in this phrase, there is a complete erasure of any second or third person relativity. Furthermore, the line 16a, "tii ke be-dan-ad ke ü far' -e ma-st" is irrefutable proof that the speaker has now attained the Supreme Truth: the lover is part of the beloved. At last, the speaker/lover's desire for union (voşlat, line 15b) is satisfied: the speaker surrendered his ego-self completely and became drowned in his beloved's daryii. The ghazal, accordingly, reaches its elimax in this segment since union with the beloved is actualized and the etemal truth of the lover' s abiding unicity, or oneness, with the beloved is finally "unveiled."

11 See discourse fifty-two of Signs of the Unseen: The Discourses of Jalaluddin Rumi, W. M. Thackston's translation of F'ihi miifih, for MawHina's views on the use of first, second, and third person pronouns. ıı I am using Professor Windfuhr's translation (Word file, "Txt w5 Rumi #250 Listen Hin.doc"), although I have modified his translations of lines 13a, 16a, and 16b. For line 14b, my translation appears in brackets.

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As just explained, the speaker now claims to be the beloved of his beloved. There are two ways of interpreting who the beloved is. The beloved can be God, the Divine Beloved, and bence, the underlying message is that "we are all part of God; we are all manifestations of the Divine Being." However, the beloved can also be MawUinii's beloved, Shams. Because Mawliinii regarded Shams as the polisbed mirror of the Divine, Mawliinii identifying himself as "part of' Shams is analogous to identifying himselfas "part of' God. This view, of course, would support the belief that Mawliina annihilated himself "in Shams." The former interpretation will be taken up here, while the latter will be discussed in the section, "Re-Reading the Autobiography."

The truth of the oneness of the Divine Beloved that the speaker has just attained comes at "vaqt-e jelii," or literally, the time of the bride's unveiling (line 15b). One can, therefore, argue that the setting of this segment is the lover and beloved's chamber. It is there that the mystical truth is unveiled or disclosed (Word file, "Txt w5 Rumi #250 Listen Hin.doc"). The word "ıiiher" (line 15b), which happens to be one of God's ninety-nine names (more specifically, al-Ziiher), also means "apparent, clear, manifest" (Steingass 824). The allusion to this particular Divine Attribute of God is anything but coincidental-it appears precisely at the time when the ultimate truth becomes apparent to the speaker!lover.

The metaphor of the shadow (siiye) (line 14a and 14b) is particularly meaningful and relevant here. A shadow obviously appears when an object blocks rays of light; it can signify darkness as well as the absence of light and color. However, "shadow" can also be understood to mean "an inseparable companion" or a "mirrored image, reflection." For the speaker who has now become the beloved of the Divine Beloved, the "shadow" represents his Divine Beloved, that is, his "mirrored image." In line 14b, the speaker rhetorically asks, "How could my shadow be separated from me?" The speaker knows that this is an impossible condition for he will always be part of the Divine Beloved and can never be estranged from Him.

Final Cap: Line 17

17 Row bar saqi v-ashnow biiqi-y-ash ta-t be-güy-ad be zabiin-e baqa'

17a Go to the cupbearer and hear the rest of it [i.e., the story/the ghazal] 17b So that he can tell it to you in the language of permanence13

This bayt is actually not included in all manuscripts (Furüziinfar, f.n., 156; Windfuhr, "Txt w5 Rumi #250"), but it will be treated here. In my opinion, it serves as the perfect concluding cap, or ho sn-e maqta ', for the ghazal. In order to signal that his job is done, Mawliina instructs the audience to listen to the remainder of the story from the siiqi, the cupbearer of the intoxicating wine of Love. It as if Mawliina were saying: "Okay, I' m stopping now. Go to the siiqi, and he'll finish the rest of the story." By ordering the audience to go to the siiqi, he shifts focus away from himself. Mawliina, thus, creates a distance between himself and the ghazal; he refuses to be the captive of his own words. This "shifting away" is how he achieves silence (khamüsh), the ultimate closure.

The ghazal maintains a verbal symmetry of sorts since it begins with a command "Open the door!" (line lb) and ends with another one: "Go to the siiqi and listen ... " (line 17a). The entire ghazal, thus, is encased by these two orders. By commencing and concluding the ghazal with imperatives, Mawliinii achieves a sense ofbalance.

The last word, "baqii' ,"or "permanency, perpetuity, etemity" alludes to the Sufi doctrine of the same name (Steingass 193). But, the phrase, "zabiin-e baqii'" seems to suggest that the ghazal is part of alarger discourse on the "language of etemity." lt implies that the reality of which the ghazal speaks is timeless; the ghazal, after all, relates the speaker's discovery of what he believes to be the Etemal Truth. In Search of Unity: A Holistic Approach

Having completed my analysis of each of the four segments and the final cap, I will now make some general observations on the thematic unity of the ghazal. The ghazal, as I shall explain here, is remarkably coherent despite its internal fragmentation. All four segments are equally balanced since they consist of four bayts each. The transitions between each of the segments thus occur at regular and predictable intervals. But, each of the four extended metaphors or "story-lines" ends as quickly as it begins thus preventing the readerllistener from dwelling on the images for too long. In fact, the rush of images is almost dizzying, thereby making it difficult for the reader!listener

13 I am using Professor Windfuhr's translation (Word file, "Txt w5 Rumi #250 Listen Hin.doc").

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to keep up and make sense of each new story-line. The ghazal, of course, does not wait; it pushes swiftly through each sub-plot in a linear fashion. However, the final word of the ghazal, "baqii' ," harkens back to "rezii," the last word of the first bayt. 14 Thus, the very last word of the hosn-e maqta' parallels the final word of the hosn-e maJ[a', and the reader/listener notices that he or she is caught in a loop of daneing words whirling around without a beginning or end. The overall structural configuration of the ghazal can, therefore, be viewed as circular rather than linear. However, I will in an upcarning seetion argue that the actual structure is not a simple circle but rather an upward spiral since the ghazal is simultaneously forward-looking and backward-looking.

If one considers this ghazal holistically, one uncovers certain features that transcend its fragmentariness. These features act like bridges connecting the ghazal' s disparate parts and confer an overall sense of unity and harmony. The non-semantic aspects of the ghazal such as its meter and mono-rhyme convey an impression of uniformity. After hearing the penultimate syllables of all seventeen bayts, one cannot help but notice that their erratic and unpredictable vowel sounds communicate a feeling of turbulence, confusion, and frustration. Yet, these penultimate syllables are juxtaposed with the pleasing sound of the long ii' s that come at the end of the bayts. These long ii' s

, have the effect of slowing the rhythm down and accentuating the last syllable of the final word. This combination of short-long vowels, in the final analysis, imparts an overall sense of momentum, vibrancy, and frenzy.

Next, I wish to highlight a few of the sernantic features that resurface throughout the poem. First off, the ghazal contains many rhetorical figures including fhiim (double entendre), raddu'l-'ajuz 'ala's-~adr (epanadiplosis), murii'iit-i nazir (maintaining the like), mubiilagha (hyperbole), perfect and imperfect tajnfs (homonymy, pun), and takriir (repetition). One finds both intra-segmental repetition (repetition within a segment) as well as inter-segmental repetition. The latter links and unites various segments; some examples include: del (2a, 12a, 12b, 13a, 13b-link segments A, C, and D), khfsh (4b and 12b-links segments A and C),jomle (6b, 12a-links segments B and C), and del-bar (Sb and 13a-links segments B and D). Furthermore, a rhetorical question appears in three of the four segments (B, C, and D). They, remarkably, are equally spaced forming a balanced pattem: lines Sb, llb, and 14b. Clearly, one specific rhetorical device is not confined to any particular segment, but rather the rhetorical figures span the ghazal.

If one were to analyze the verbs of the ghazal, one would see that they express mavement and dynamism, two trademark qualities ofMawlana's poetry. The verbs that occur most frequently in each of the segments are:

Fu~ül A: goshiidan = to open Fu~ül B: iimadan =to come Fu~ül C: kashfdan =to attract Fu~ül D: bordan =to take

(three times; la, 2b, 4b) (three times; 5a, 5b, Sa) (twice; lüa, l1a) (twice; 13a, 15a)

These high-frequency verbs all indicate physical action and activity. They also happen to imply motion and movement: moving something or sameone from point A to point B, i.e., a changing of position or place. The verb shodan, as Fatemeh Keshavarz notes, also indicates dynamism for it expresses a transformation, or a change of state (SS). An excellent example of the verb shodan that conveys transition occurs in line 7a: "sürat o ma'nii to shav-am chun ras-I," or "(In) form and spirit, I become you ... "

Another trend that one discovers in reading/listening to this ghazal is Mawliina's use of polychrome imagery. The colors evoked frommundane objects of nature like sulfur and straw are in fact quite powerful and meaningful in their symbolism. For example, the pale-yellow of the sulfur and the straw, which happens to be the color of the anemic lover who is exhausted from pursuing his beloved, is juxtaposed with the red of the heart and the fire. The colors depicted in the ghazal are represented in the following chart:

14 My thanks to Professor Windfuhr for pointing this out.

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Fusül Symbol

Fu~ül A: falaq

del Fu~ül B: kebrzt

ii tas h Fu~ül C: kah

kah ro bii Fu~ülD: daryii

say e

Symbolism

Emergence of light and color; symbolizes the rising of the beloved "Shams" Red; symbolizes vitality and love Yellow; represents the pallid lover; when sulfur bums, the flaine tums blue Red; symbolizes Divine Fire and the beloved "Shams" Y ellow; represents the pallid I over Red/orange; signifies a Divine Attribute and the beloved Blue; symbolizes the Sea of Divine Oneness-the site where the drop is united with the sea The absence of light and color; can symbolize darkness or a mirrored image, reflection

MawHina's ghazal, thus, presents the audience with a prismatic pattern of multiple shades of the primary colors: red, yellow, and blue. The ghazal masterfully begins with light-the rise of the sun-and ends with the seattering of the dark, colorless shadow. Mawlana's use of varicolored imagery throughout the ghazal accords it with an additional sense of unity and coherence.

Ghazal #250 also depicts a variety of liminal spaces as I have alluded to in previous sections. In fact, these spaces happen to be the settings for the first three story-lines. This trend of liminality, schematized bel o w, also serves as one of the g hazal' s unifying elemen ts.

Fu~ül A:

Setting of Liminality

The threshold; the door between the Sacred and the Profane realms Dawn is a liminal time-betwixt and between lightness and darkness The Iab of the alehemisı who tries to transmute base metals into gold. Here, solid sulfur changes chemical states when it is met with fire. In the reaction, the sulfur disappears and the vaporous gas sulfur dioxide is emitted. The liminal cave of Mt. Hira, the numinous site where the Divine Word was first revealed

For the sake of completeness, I would like to discuss the setting of Fu~ül D. There is no site of liminality in this segment because the speaker!lover is no longer in limbo; he is no longer between any two spacesor stations. He has crossed the threshold and arrived at his ultimate destination-there is no place left for him to go for he w as finally able to enter the chamber and be with his beloved.

As I have argued earlier, this ghazal narrates the speaker!lover's realization of the Etemal Truth: we are all part of the beloved/Divine Beloved. The ghazal revolves around the unveiling of this truth, and its discovery marks the ghazal's climax. The speaker's mystical metamorphosis from lover to beloved that occurs through the unveiling or disclosing of this truth is the central underlying and unifying theme of the ghazal. This theme, constructed from the ghazal's vocabulary, pervades throughout Fusül Unveiling/Disclosing Veiling/Concealing

Fu~ülC:

Fu~ülD:

Final Cap:.

goshii (la, 2b, 4b) baz kon-i'(3b) asbiih-i (3a) (emergence of light, truth) falaq (3a) (emergence oflight, truth) berün ii (Sb, 8a) ( coming out)

hastan (lb) khafii (2b)

ghetii (6b) be-püsh-am (8b)

küh-e he ra (ll b) (the revealing of the Qur' an) zaher (15b) jelii (15b) be-dan-ad (16a) be-güy-ad (17b) zabiin-e baqii' ( 1 7b)

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According to this representation, we can easily come up with the following binary oppositions that help illustrate the plot of the ghazal: open/closed, outer/inner, daylight/darkness, veiling/unveiling, revealing/concealing, and manifest/hidden. From examining the schema above, one notices that there are far more words associated with unveiling than with veiling. Words related to both are initially present in the ghazal, however, as the ghazal progresses, words related to the theme of unveiling come to dominate the ghazal's dietion right through the elimax where the truth finally "dawns" upon the speakerllover. To conclude, the presence of the unveiling theme found throughout imparts a sense of congruence among the four segments and contributes to the intrinsic wholeness of the ghazal. Re-Reading the Autobiography

In this section, I will deseribe how the "speaker" of the poem is in fact the histoncal Mawlana. This ghazal, I contend, is autobiographical; it recapitulates the most extraordinary experience of Mawlana's life. In the first story-line, it is Mawlana who is standing right by the door and commanding that it be opened. As I mentioned in my interpretation of segment A, the door is Shams and the porter is God. Mawlana is pleading to be allowed to enter the realm of the sacred for he wishes to know its secrets and truths. In the second extended metaphor, Mawlana is the sulfur who wishes to be burned, literally vaporized, in the flame of his beloved Shams. Mawlana says that although his and Shams's outward appearances do not look alike, he claims that their inner composites are identical. In the third segment, Mawlana likens himself to the Prophet Muhammad who received the Divine Word on Mt. Hira. What extraordinary revelation, what truth did Mawlana receive that could even compare to the mysterium tremendum et fascinans of Muhammad's numinous experience? Mawlana's earth-shattering revelation literally comes in the Iiminal space between line 12b and line 13a:

12b: süy-e del-e khish biy-ii! marhabii! 13a: del-bar-am ö del bar-am, i-ra ke hast

After Mawlana greets his beloved with a "Hello," he then immediately declares "del-bar-am," or "I am the beloved." In a sudden flash, Mawlana has united with his beloved for he has now identified himselfas the beloved! Mawlana has finally succeeded in annihilating his "self' in Shams.

Segments A, B, and C all reflect Ma w lana' s life before his union with Shams. In all three segments, his desire for union with Shams was passionately expressed but had not yet been actualized. In the first scene of segment A, the door is closed, and as Mawlana says "closing the door is not the sign of contentrnent (rezii)." Mawllina, thus, is not content; he is frustrated because he is separated from his beloved. He desperately wants to go through the door. Mawlana's anguish continues in segments B and C where his desire for union with Shams also goes unrealized. It is in the space betwixt and between segments C and D that marks Mawlana's annihilation, union, and complete identification with his beloved Shams. The monologue of segment D serves as a declaration of his newly discovered knowledge. After Mawlana's annihilation, he lives in the stage of baqii' ("permanence") as indicated by the final bayt, line 17. We can, therefore, say that Mawlana undergoes the following transitions:

1) the station of shawq; Mawlana is malcontent because he is separated from his beloved and yearns to be with him

2) the station offanii' where Mawlana has annihilated his ego, drowned in the "daryii," and has metamorphosed into "the beloved" (ma'shüq)

3) the station of baqii' where Mawlana subsists in his beloved

What do these three phases resemble? In my view, segments A, B, and C clearly reflect and encapsulate Mawlana's experience along the successive stations (maqiimiit) of the Sufi path of love: shawq ~ fanii' ~ baqii'.

As mentioned previously, the last word of the ghazal "baqii"' harkens back to the last word of the first bayt, "rezii." The choice of words is not arbitrary. While "baqii"' does echo "rezii," one must keep in mind that Mawlana in segment A is in a state of "not-rezii," or malcontent as mentioned above. The usage of "baqii"' is both backward-looking in that it reflects "rezii," (contentment), but it is also forward-looking because it indicates Ma w lana' s new found state: he has gained new knowledge and has found subsistence in the perfect mirror Shams. The relationship between baqii' andfanii', as explained by Fazlur Rahman, is a nuanced one:

The Sufis generally regard this state of balçii' as being more perfect than that of mere fanii' . . . This 'return' to the world-which is, they emphatically state, not a simple retum to the pre-

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fanii' state of the mystic, since his experience has given him an altogether new insight ... ("Balçii' wa-Fanii"'; italics added)

It is in light of this newly acquired insight, that the structure of the ghazal should not be considered as linear or as circular but rather as an upward spiral for MawHina has now reached a spiritual station on a higher plane as I will discuss further be lo w.

There is no greater evidence of MawHina's "baqii"' in Shams than his own takhallos of "Shams." What does "baqii'" mean for Mawliina? It means abidingin Shams. He was Mawlana's inspiration in the truest sense of the word: "But that Turk breathes into me" (qtd. in Schimmel, "Voice" 380). With Mawlana's newfound knowledge, he felt an obligation to share it with those closest to him by serving as a rnirror himself. Indeed, Mawlana served as a polisbed rnirror for his disciples, especially for his two closest ones: the goldsmith ŞaHii:ı al-Din and his student I;Iusam al-Din Chelebi. In fact, Mawlana may have been referring to his disciples with the word "kfsh," or "kin," (line 4b) and with the phrase "hame aşfıiib o hame aqrebii," or "all companions and kindred" (line 9b).

To recap, the three stages of Mawlana's shawq for Shams, fanii' in Shams, and baqii' in Shams that I schematized above are beautifully articulated by Schimmel:

Mawlana's life can be seen as the ideal model of the mystic's progress: After the experience of the love of Shams, which, like a high-rising flame bumed him to complete annihilation, there followed a period of comparative quietude in his relationship with the goldsmith, a time of finding his transformed self. Finally, in the descending semicircle of his life, he retumed to the world and its creatures by teaching I;Iusam al-Din the mysteries he had experienced through the medium of the Mathnavi. ("Rümr' 7938; see also Signs 74)

This is ina nutshell what ghazal #250 is all about. This ghazal is simply a mirror for Mawlana's own life. It begins with his raging desire for union with Shams (segments A, B, and C), climaxes with the union itself (transition from segment C to D), and concludes with Mawlana's baqii' (final cap). I, however, disagree with Schimmel's usage of the phrase "are of descent" for I believe Mawlani;i's progression, like that of ghazal #250, can be better conceived as an upward spiral. His attainment of the Etemal Truth transformed him to such an extent that he cannot possibly be considered to have retumed to the same plane as the one from which he left. His insight surely propelled him to a much loftier position.

Mystical transformations often occur due to the attainment of noetic truths:

Although so similar to states of feeling, mystical states seem to those who experience them to be also states of knowledge. They are states of insight in to depths of truth unplumbed by the discursive intellect. They are illuminations, revelations, full of significance and importance. (Ellwood 32)

Noetic is a fitting description for Mawlana's mystical metamorphosis as portrayedin ghazal #250. His transition from the lover to the beloved was actualized upon the revelation of the knowledge that he is part of Shams. This ghazal can be seen as Mawlana not only conveying to his listeners and readers his attainment of the Eternal Truth but also imparting some of his newfound insight to his followers as well. In the final bayt of the ghazal, Mawlana is done narrating his autobiography. When he orders his audience to go listen to the cupbearer for the rest of the story, Mawlana is in a sense issuing a challenge to them: go and find your own baqii' for I already have.

Mawlana's own mystical transformatian can be best demonstrated by his quantum leap from "O Beloved!" (line 5) to "I am the beloved" (line 13). Mawlana experienced a profound metamorphosis, a spiritual rite of passage. Ri tes of passage and critica} life transitions are marked by liminality: Lirninality, 'being on a threshold,' is the condition that prevails during the inner phase of rites of passage, those rituals performed in many societies to transfer a person from one stage of life . to another. (Tumer 5460)

What, in effect, Mawlana experienced was the transition or passage from the spiritual maqiim of shawq to the higher station of baqii'. As Arnold van Gennep found, there are three phases that characterize rites of passage: "separation, margin or limen, and reaggregation" (Tumer 5460). Van Gennep choose to use the word "limen," which means "threshold" in Latin, because he found in his research that "door symbolism" was a recurrent motif of people who underwent rites of passage (Tumer 5460). The lirninal phase is where the subject passes into a "spiritual realm that has few of the attributes of either the past or coming state"; in fact, it has "frequently been likened to death"

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(Tumer 5460). Furthermore, the liminal phase occurs ata "no-place" andata "time taken right out of normallif e, a 'no-time' -a realm of pure possibility that resists classification" (Tumer 5460).

At the very beginning of the ghazal, we find that Mawlana is already at the liminal phase because he is standing at the threshold. His ev en tual fanii' marks the death of his identity. The moment of Ma w lana' s union cannot be pin-pointed exactly to a place or a time; it occurs in an ambiguous space and moment-sornewhere and sometime in the passage between lines 12b and 13a. In the final stage of reaggregation, the subject experiences a "rebirth," and he or she returns "to the community" as an "initiated" member (Tumer 5461). Mawlana's rebirth meant being bom again in Shams. Again, Mawlana's takhallos of Shamsis concrete proof of his re-birth; Schimmel elucidates this point: "One has to remember that a new name is usually given at an initiation, be it an order, or a canversion or baptism; Maulana, by assuruing Shamsuddin's name for his poetical activity, has as it were died to himselfandfound a new life in the mystical belovecf' (Veil, f.n. ll, 237; italics added) Part of Mawlana's new life "in Shams" included conveying mystical knowledge to his disciples and serving as a polisbed mirror for them so that they too can become "initiated" and progress along the Sufi path. Mawlana realized that his poetry was rnimetic; his ghazals rnimicked his own life experiences. Because they passessed this rnimetic quality, his ghazals could therefore be didactic for his students. As Keshavarz explains, Mawlana knew that his poetry "in the D 'ivan ... participates in the formatian and development of love as much as it helps articulate that experience" (77). In teliing ghazal #250, that is, in teliing his autobiography, Mawlana hoped to inspire his disciples and invite them to plunge into the Sea of Oneness. Concluding Remarks

How to speak of the Ineffable, or even to define the different stepson the path which, as they hope, will lead them to the highest bliss, that is to the union with the object of their longing? (Schimmel, "Voice" 377)

According to Mawlana, language is completely inadequate for expressing love:

Every pen is bound to break Once it reaches the word Love

(qtd. in Schimmel, Calligraphy 114 from the Mathnavf)

"Generically the ghazal is, par excellence, a love poem," Julie Meisami reminds us (46), and with ghazal #250, Mawlana comes close to expressing the Ineffable and the "highest bliss." The ghazal completely parallels Ma w lana' s life for it narrates his love story: his shawq, fanii', and baqii' in Shams, the polisbed rnirror of the Divine Beloved. The ghazal itself serves as a mirror of Mawlana's life; it is an abbreviated autobiography in poetical form.

I have deseribed the ghazal at length and have analyzed it segmentally and holistically. The ghazal creates excitement by rningling dialogue and monologue as well as constative and performative statements. Although there may appear to be tension between fragmentation and unity, there is a running theme to be found among the segments. The segments themselves are congruous to each other and echo one another. They are, in fact, just different manifestations of Ma w lana' s sole vision.

after all, For the imagery of ghazal #250, Mawlana opts for the mundane and the natural. The sacred,

always manifests itself as something nonordinary and thus wholly distinct from what is profane, common, or simply utilitarian .. . anything-a stone, a tree, or a building-can be set apart as disclosing the sacred. Both natural objects and human artifacts are capable of and have been transformed from a common use to a sacred presence. (Livingston 59).

Thus, the fire, the sulfur, the straw, the amber, the mountain, ete. all disclose certain sacred knowledge for Mawlana. Moreover, his use of elements of the natural world indicates his awareness of the universality of the Ultimate Truth.

Mystics like Mawlana conceive of the universe as being "split-level": there is the profane realm of our everyday world of conditioned reality as well as the sacred realm of unconditioned reality, that is, the "realm of God, of ultimate origins, of unlimited power" (Ellwood 1). Mystics do not see these two realms as being "hermetically sealed off one from the other. There are doors and windows between unconditioned reality and our everyday world" (Ellwood 1). The image of Mawlana's door that occurs in the hosn-e matla' expresses Mawlana's belief that these two realms do

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indeed interface with each other. The only thing is that the door between these two spheres must be open for any "crossing over" to take place; hence, Mawlana's command for "dar bar goshii!"

The metaphors and image dusters associated with alchemical philosophy paraUel closely with the central theme of ghazal #250: transformatian from one state to another. Just as a base metal magically transmutes into the most precious metal gold, Mawlana metamorphoses from the lover to the beloved. Ghazal #250 is Mawlana's autobiography in which he tells of his spiritual and psychological progress and development. What I have embarked on here is essentially an attempt at discovering the ghazal #250's inner meaning. But, what I must remind myself is that this is a virtually impossible and inexhaustible task for "Good poetry never lends itself to a full unraveling" (Keshavarz 128).

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