إِنَّا إِلَيْهِ رَاجِعُونَ

Verily, to Him We Return

Qur’an 2:156

چون ز دانش موجِ اندیشه بتاختاز سخن و آواز او صورت بساخت

از سخن صورت بزاد و باز مُردموجْ خود را باز اندر بحر بُرد

صورت از بی‌صورتی آمد برونباز شد که اِنّا اِلَیْه راجِعوُن

From “our intellect,” the waves of thoughts gallop forth; by means of sounds and speech, they conjure “form.”

These vibrating “forms,” teeming with grace, linger awhile, breathe, and reveal their face. Then, yielding fully to a boundless embrace, they seamlessly dissolve into time and space.

Akin to the ceaseless crashing waves, continuously lined up in strides, as they return inward to the sea by the mandate of the shifting tides.

Witness the glory of “forms” merging with “the formless,” for they elucidate “Verily, to Him we return,” as the words in the Holy Book clearly indicate.

JALĀL AL-DĪN RŪMĪ • MASNAVIEXCERPTS FROM BOOK I, SECTION 62

Inspired by the original Persian verses —by Massoud Pourreza