In Jami's Haft Awrang, the story of the old man who claims to be dying of love for a beautiful youth, only to look away when told that the youth's brother is far more beautiful, serves as a profound Sufi allegory on the necessity of undivided devotion (tawhid) on the spiritual path.

The youth's sudden reprimand of the old man highlights the core spiritual lesson: true love requires absolute, single-minded focus on the Beloved (the Divine). Turning one's gaze toward another—even when promised greater beauty or reward—exposes the seeker's love as insincere and driven by self-interest or superficial desire (hawa). In the Sufi tradition, this story warns the seeker that any division of attention or attachment to worldly distractions disqualify them from the path of true mystical union.