[Sunlight] "The sword of Nothingness"

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Love is the flame which, when it blazes,
consumes everything other than the beloved.
The lover wields the sword of Nothingness*
in order to dispatch all but God:
consider what remains after Nothing.
There remains but God: all the rest is gone.
Praise to you, O mighty Love, destroyer of all other "gods."

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`Eshq ân sho`leh-st ku chon bar forukht
harcheh joz ma`shuq-e bâqi jomleh sukht
Tigh-e Lâ* dar qatl-e ghayr-e Haqq borânad
dar negar zân pas keh ba`d-e Lâ cheh mânad
mânad illâ Allâh bâqi-ye jomleh raft
shâd bâsh ay `Eshq-e sherkat-suz-e zaft

*The "Lâ" of "Lâ ilâha illâ Allâh" (There are no gods but God).
Qur'ân 47:19 The Lâ written in Arabic is shaped like a sword.

-- Mathnawi V: 588-590
Version by Camille and Kabir Helminski
"Rumi: Jewels of Remembrance"
Threshold Books, 1996
(Persian transliteration courtesy of Yahyá Monastra)

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[Sunlight] "The sword of Nothingness"