{"id":2546,"date":"2021-06-19T07:55:05","date_gmt":"2021-06-19T11:55:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/livingtradition\/?p=2546"},"modified":"2021-06-19T08:06:13","modified_gmt":"2021-06-19T12:06:13","slug":"beyond-gain-and-loss-rumis-teaching-on-surah-ash-sharh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/livingtradition\/2021\/06\/beyond-gain-and-loss-rumis-teaching-on-surah-ash-sharh\/","title":{"rendered":"Beyond Gain and Loss: Rumi’s Teaching on Surah Ash-Sharh"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
In Book III of the Masnavi<\/em>, Mevlana tells the story of an eagle taking the shoe of Prophet Muhammad as he is finishing his ablutions before prayer.<\/p>\n
That man of sweet address moved his hand towards the boot: an eagle snatched the boot from his hand,<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
And bore it away into the air, as the wind; then she turned it upside down, and a serpent dropped from it.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
From the boot dropped a black serpent: on account of that care the eagle became his benevolent friend.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
[<\/em>Masnavi<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0III, 3241\u201344]<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
At one level the story is about an alignment of perspective. The eagle, from her view in the sky, espies danger in a situation where the Prophet is too close to see it for himself. Once he realizes the eagle has saved him from being bitten by a snake, the Prophet thanks the bird. \u201cI deemed this rudeness, but it really was kindness,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
The eagle\u2019s reply is a short teaching of its own on discernment:<\/p>\n
\u201cFar be it from you that forgetfulness grew up in you:
\nmy seeing that invisible thing is your reflection.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nI, in the air, see the serpent in the boot,
\nit is not of me, and it is your reflection, O Mustafa.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe reflection of the man of light is wholly resplendent;
\nthe reflection of the man of darkness is wholly a bath-stove ash-heap.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nThe reflection of the servant of God is wholly luminous;
\nthe reflection of the stranger is wholly blindness.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\nKnow every one\u2019s reflection: see, O my soul;
\never sit beside the similar one whom you desire.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n[Masnavi<\/em> III, 3250\u201354]<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Reflecting on this passage for myself, I could quickly identify the times in my life when things seemed to go wrong for a while (losing a relationship, losing a job, getting injured) only to find myself provided with better circumstances or more insight later on. Mevlana says the story is meant to be an illustration of the verse from Surah Ash-Sharh<\/em>: With hardship comes ease.<\/em> [94:5] This is a reminder of the Divine Mercy that is the context for all the events of our lives.<\/p>\n
At the same time, I notice in myself a risk of falling into the punishment-reward narrative of conventional religion, if not replaying dysfunctional relationship dynamics: i.e., once I suffer enough then God will love me again and give me make-up presents.<\/p>\n
Yet I think Mevlana is trying to point beyond this level of conditional relating and magical thinking. It\u2019s about developing a higher state of spiritual awareness, where the obstacles and challenges that the ego normally tries to avoid, can be received as invitations to draw nearer to our Rabb. Mevlana says:<\/p>\n
That tale is a lesson to you, O my soul, to the end that you may acquiesce in the decree of God;<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
So that you will be quick to understand and will have good thoughts when you see a calamity of a sudden.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Others turn pale from dread of it, you laughing in the hour of gain or loss, like the rose.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Because the rose, though you tear it petal by petal, does not leave off laughing and does not become bent.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cWhy,\u201d it says, \u201cshould I fall into grief on account of a thorn? Indeed I have brought laughter by means of the thorn.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Whatever by destiny becomes lost to you, know for sure that it has redeemed you from affliction.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\u201cWhat is Sufism?\u201d He said, \u201cTo feel joy in the heart at the coming of sorrow.\u201d<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
[Masnavi<\/em> III, 3255\u201361]<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
In this part of the passage, I hear a call for another level of realignment, not just of accepting trials or acknowledging a bigger picture in one\u2019s losses, but of being emancipated from the world of gain and loss entirely. Contentment with God\u2019s decree is cultivating gratitude for what is<\/em>. In Mevlana\u2019s metaphor of the rose being stripped of its petals, it goes even further: there is a sense of ecstasy at being liberated from the veils of form and delivered into essence. To be in a state of surrender at the level Mevlana describes would mean welcoming every opportunity to shed another layer of the false self that keeps us apart from the Beloved.<\/p>\n
That is how I understand \u201cWhat is Sufism? To feel joy in the heart at the coming of sorrow.\u201d It\u2019s not about feeling that you deserve punishment but rather that you deserve to know you are inalienably, fully and permanently connected to Source. Gain and loss are only waves on the surface of that Sea. Joy arises with the knowledge that even the most painful circumstances can be gifts when we bring our need to the One who has no need: when we call out to our Sustainer, and hear Here I am<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u00a0 In Book III of the Masnavi, Mevlana tells the story of an eagle taking the shoe of Prophet Muhammad as he is finishing his ablutions before prayer. That man of sweet address moved his hand towards the boot: an eagle snatched the boot from his hand, And bore it away into the air, as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2736,"featured_media":2548,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[451,526,487],"tags":[770,773,767,12,15],"class_list":["post-2546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-mevlana-jalaluddin-rumi","category-prophet-muhammad","category-quran","tag-discernment","tag-liberation","tag-mevlana-rumi","tag-prophet-muhammad","tag-quran"],"yoast_head":"\nBeyond Gain and Loss: Rumi's Teaching on Surah Ash-Sharh<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\" In Book III of the Masnavi, Mevlana tells the story of an eagle taking the shoe of Prophet Muhammad as he is finishing his ablutions before prayer. 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