Things are Revealed by Their Opposites (Rumi, Mathnavi I: Verses 1121 – 1149)

1121: You never see red, green, and reddish brown until you see light, prior to

(seeing) these three (colors). 1122: But because your mind was distracted by color, the colors became a veil to you

from (perceiving) the light. 1123: Since the colors are hidden at night, you have therefore found (that) the sight

of colors is (necessarily) due to light. ["According to the view of Ibn Síná (died, 1037) and many Moslem philosophers

colour is produced by light and has no independent existence. Others, while admitting that the visibility of colour depends on light, deny that it is non-existent in the absence of light."]

1124: (For) without external light, there isn't (any) sight of color. (It is) the same way

(with the sight of) inward mental colors. ["As colours are produced by light from the heavenly bodies, so the inner light of

reason, which is reflected from the Light of God (Universal Reason), produces ideal forms of knowledge and truth."]

["Thoughts and inward states come into (the mind's) vision with the light of

discernment and insight (nûr-é baSîrat)."] 1125: The outward (light is) from the sun and from the stars, but the inward (light is)

from the reflection of the lights of (Divine) Loftiness. 1126: The ray of the eye's light is itself the light of the heart, (since) the eye's light is

the result of the light of hearts. [Vision is possible because of a subtle kind of "light" within the eyes. "The light of

the heart (núr-i dil), which is reason, illumines the light of the eye, i.e. the sense of sight, and thereby enables it to discern the real quality of the objects which it perceives; hence it may be said that 'the light of the eye is produced by the light of hearts'.

Since animals possess only the former, they lack the power of induction common

to all rational men and blindly follow their instincts. But these 'lights' have their source in the transcendent Light of God; though neither physical sense nor carnal

reason is in immediate contact with it. The heart of the mystic, however, receives illumination without any 'veil', so that he sees by the light of Pure Reason itself."]

1127: (Once) again, the ray of the heart's light is (from) the Light of God, which is

pure and distinct from the light of the intellect and the senses. 1128: There isn't light (at) night, and (so) you don't see colors; therefore (light) is

made evident by the opposite of light (darkness). 1129: (First) is the seeing of light, then the sight of color. And you know this

instantly by (awareness of) the contrary of light. 1130: God created pain and (yearning) sorrow for this sake: so that happiness may

occur by (means of) this opposite. ["An ethical application of the principle that till we know what a thing is not we

do not know what it is. The appearance of evil is necessary for the manifestation of good.”]

1131: Thus, hidden things are revealed by (their) opposites. (And) since God has no

opposite, He is hidden. 1132: Since the sight is (first cast) upon the light, then to color, contrary is revealed

by contrary -- like the (light-skinned) Greek and the (dark-skinned) Ethiopian. [Rumi uses these as symbols of spiritual types, not as racial superiority or

inferiority (which is alien to the principles of Islam) "i.e. white and black.”] 1133: Therefore, you know light by the opposite of light, (since the perception of)

contrary reveals contrary within (people's) hearts. 1134: There is no opposite in existence to the Light of God, so that He may be made

to appear evident by it.

["Reverting to the analogy of light and colour, the poet explains that we know

light by distinguishing it from darkness; but the Divine Essence, which itself is the life and soul of all phenomenal existence, remains for ever hidden from us, because in reality there is nothing that it is not. Having no object to compare and contrast with God, the mind cannot apprehend Him: it perceives only the diverse forms in which He appears."]

1135: Therefore, our eyes "do not see Him, but He sees" (our eyes). See this from (the

example of) Moses and the mountain (of Sinai).

[Our eyes "do not see Him, but He sees" (our eyes): these words are from the Qur'an (6:103), modified for the sake of the meter: "No eyes perceive Him, but He perceives (all) the eyes." This may also be translated, "No (human) vision comprehends Him..."

(The example of) Moses and the mountain (of Sinai): "And when Moses came to

Our (appointed) time and his Lord spoke to him, he said, 'O my Lord! Show (Yourself) to me, (so that) I may look at You.' (Then) He said, 'You cannot see Me. But look at the mountain, and if it remains firmly in place -- (only) then might you see Me.' When his Lord manifested (His) Glory to the mountain, He made it crumble, and Moses fell down unconscious." (Qur'an 7:143)]

1136: Know (that) form (derives) from (spiritual) reality, just as the lion (springs)

from the jungle or as the voice and words (emerge) from thoughts. ["Here súrat (form) includes both sensible and ideal forms of things springing

forth, like lions, from the mysterious and impenetrable jungle of Reality (ma`nà) and disappearing again in its dark depths." Rumi often contrasts outward "form" (Sûrat) with inward "meaning" (ma`nà).]

1137: This speech and voice arose from thoughts, (but) you don't know where the

ocean of thought is.

1138: Yet since you've seen (that) the waves of speech are elegant, you know that the

ocean of those (waves) is also noble. 1139: When the waves of thought raced out from (intuitive) knowing, it made forms

of speech and voice (for them). [(Intuitive) knowing (dánesh): "Wisdom." "(It means), 'when the waves of

thought and form entered (the mind) from the ocean of intelligence and wisdom...." "When the waves of thought sped on from (the sea of) Wisdom, it (Wisdom) made (for them) the form of speech and voice."]

1140: (Thus) the forms were born from (Divine) Speech and once more died; the

waves were brought back into the ocean. [This is another way of saying (as in line 1136) that form (derives) from the

invisible realm of spiritual Reality (in contrast to the external world of transient appearances. In between these two lines, Rumi has said that the waves of speech and voice arise from the ocean of (hidden) thoughts and that the waves of thought arise from (more hidden) intuitive knowing.

Now, he is speaking of the Divine origin of forms, the Divine command, "Be!" "When He decrees something, He says to it, 'Be!' And it is (kun fa-yakun)" (Qur'an 2:117) "The form was born of the Word."]

1141: The forms emerged from formlessness (and then) returned, for "Truly, we

belong to Him and to Him we will return." ["Truly, we belong to Him and to Him we will return": Qur'an 2:156. "Bí-súratí

(formlessness) refers to Divine Knowledge (cf. dánish in v. 1139) or Universal Reason, of which the phenomenal world is the outward form." "Everything returns to its source."]

1142: Therefore, you have a death and a return (in) every moment. Muhammad said,

"This world is (only for) an hour." 1143: Our thought is (like) an arrow (flying) in the air from Him. It can never be

fixed in the air, (so) it comes (back) to God. 1144: The world is renewed every moment but, in (seeing its) continuance, we (are)

unaware of its being renewed. ["The world has only the semblance of duration; in truth all phenomena are

annihilated and re-created at every moment by the eternal manifestation of Divine energy."

"Wali Muhammad (the late nineteenth century Indian commentator), ...explains

the Súfí doctrine known as 'the renewal of like by like' (tajaddud-i amthál) as follows: 'The Súfís believe that every moment a world (`álamí) is annihilated and that instantaneously the like of it comes into existence, because God has opposite attributes which never cease to be displayed...'"]

1145: (For) life is like a stream: it arrives new and fresh (every instant), (while) it

appears constant in (its) material form. 1146: It has come as a (seemingly) continuous form due its speed, like a spark which

you move quickly in (your) hand.

1147: (For if) you move a branch of fire in accord (with a pattern), the flame appears

(to be) very lengthy to (your) sight. 1148: The (appearance of) elongation (of objects for) a space of time (is caused) by

the swiftness of the (Divine) action. And (this) quickness appears (because of the) stimulation of the Creative Power (of God).

[The (appearance of) elongation (of objects for) a space of time means, "The swift motion produced by the action of God presents (this length of duration (Time) as (a phenomenon arising) from the rapidity of Divine action."

"This verse is an answer to the implied question, 'How is it possible that human life is one moment and the time-period of the world is one hour (as the Prophet said), (when) at the same time there are these entire long years and lengthy moments?' You may say in response that this lengthiness of time is in relation to humanity... (Yet) at the same time, in relation to Divine years, this world is (only) a single hour.... But this mystery cannot be understood by means of words and speech."

(This) quickness appears (because of the) stimulation of the Creative Power (of God): "The whole circle of existence really begins and ends in a single point, i.e. the Essence of God, which is perceived by us under the form of extension. Hence, as the Prophet said, 'the world is but a moment', i.e. a flash of Divine illumination (tajallí) revealing the One as the Many and the Many as the One. But in our minds this immediacy produces the illusion of Time; and we deem the world enduring."]

1149: Although the seeker of this secret may be very learned -- now (seek the answer

from) Husamuddin, who is a sublime book (of Divine mysteries). [Husamuddin Chelebi was Rumi's chief disciple (following the death of

Salahuddin Zarkûb), his first successor after his own death, and the one to whom he dictated the entire Mathnawi during the last fifteen years of his life. Rumi occasionally invites the listener to find out more about the mysteries he is expounding by asking Husamuddin. He also praises Husamuddin as being the stimulus of his inspiration for this work.]