Concept

In this tale from Jami's Haft Awrang, a frivolous suitor stands before a radiant Beloved yet lets his eyes stray toward another figure approaching from behind, and for that twisted, divided glance he is at once cast out of the Beloved's favor. Read allegorically, the Beloved is the Divine, and the wandering gaze is attention given to other-than-God. The story teaches that true love requires an undivided, single-pointed gaze: the instant the seeker looks toward anything besides the Beloved, the bond of union is severed and the seeker falls from the Beloved's regard. It dramatizes the Sufi demand for exclusive devotion and singleness of vision as the condition of remaining in the divine presence.