This post contains the content from the lecture of Shaykh-ul-Islam Dr. Muhammad Tahir-ul-Qadri “Travels of Rumi | Rumi Series” uploaded on the youtube channel TQTalks
Mathnawi – The Pain of Separation
There was a time when great scholars at ulama used to study Mathnawi of Mawlana Rum as the classical text of Islamic sciences and many other books of the Tasawwuf (Spirituality) that were included as the textbooks of the classical Islamic syllabi. Mawlana Rum starts his Mathnawi from the story of crying, and complaints about the spirit.
He says:-
Listen to that reed how it tells a tale, how it tells the story it is complaining of separations, this is plural, it is not said that reed is complaining of separation, no, he says that reed is complaining of separations, there are many separations which she is complaining about.
Many separations took place when the spirit was transferred from the heavens to this world and the spirit was imprisoned in the prison of the human body. One separation took place from its original homeland and that was the world of spirits (ALAM-AL-ARWAH) the world of Noor, where other spirits and the angels used to live and where was a complete atmosphere of worship of Allah, an atmosphere of Allah’s praise, and a spiritual, Atmospheres of Allah’s lights which were showering all day and night, then separation from her companies from spiritual companies, spiritual friendships then separation from the nearness of Almighty Allah where he used to ask.
“Am I not your Lord?”
And these spirits used to reply
“Why not”
These spirits used to speak to their lord, so she is complaining about these separations, that she left her homeland that was (ALAM-Al_MALAKOT) and came to a strange land that is ALAM-AL- NASOOT. This vegetal this materialistic world temporal world and then Mawlana Rum says;
That reed says ever since I was parted from the reed bed since he is giving an example of the RUH (Spirit) at the beginning like reed is the RUH (Spirit) and the tree she says since I was cut from my tree from my reed bed my lament my crying my screening has caused the men and the women to morn by lamenting my screaming my crying has made them unrest, has put them into trouble because they hear me crying and they hear me screaming, but they don’t understand why I am crying? They don’t understand the cause, they don’t appreciate the reason behind my screaming, or my complaint, and they get upset. Then Mawlana Rum says:-
Again in the worlds of the reed I want a bosom torn by severance. I want a heart which is already torn into pieces because of love. I need a heart which is stored into pieces with the knife of love, a heart which is torn into pieces, only then, I can unfold to such a one the pain of my love, the pain of my wish, the pain of my desire, and the pain of my complaint. If I get some heart torn into pieces, a heart that is aware of the pain of separation only to that heart I can unfold, I can reveal and describe the secrets of my pain and my crying.
Mathnawi
Mathnawi – The Pain of Separation
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