M6:3136 — آدم اصطرلاب اوصاف علوست / وصف آدم مظهر آیات اوست

Translation: Adam is the astrolabe of the lofty attributes; The description of Adam is the manifestation of His signs. Meaning: This verse posits that humanity functions as an astrolabe, a tool revealing the sublime divine attributes. It suggests that a deep understanding and description of Adam's essence can unveil the signs and grandeur of God.

I assert, unequivocally, that in this verse, Mawlana introduces a profoundly deep and pivotal point. He likens Adam to the “astrolabe of lofty attributes.” An astrolabe, as you know, is an instrument for celestial navigation, used by ancients to calculate astronomical positions; it revealed the coordinates of stars and firmaments from afar. Yet, it did not bring these celestial bodies directly before us. Humanity is precisely the same. We embody and reflect the attributes of God, not directly or in their absolute fullness, but in the manner an astrolabe reflects the heavens.

This simile is pregnant with meaning. Mawlana further describes this astrolabe as possessing “spiderweb patterns” (noqūsh-e ankabūt). These are the enigmatic, intricate lines inscribed upon an astrolabe that only skilled astronomers can decipher. Adam, too, bears such enigmatic lines upon his being; mysteries that demand a “line-reader” to interpret. It is precisely like an X-ray image of the lung: ordinary people see only a picture, but a physician reads its meaning and diagnoses illness. Or Chinese script, which is mere patterns to the uninitiated, but words and meanings to a Sinologist.

The tragedy, from Mawlana's perspective, is that this “astrolabe of guidance” (astrolāb-e rashād) — an astrolabe created for leading and guiding — has “fallen into the hands of the common folk, without an astronomer” (bī monajjem dar kaff-e ‘āmm oftād). Humanity, with all its symbolic and divine lines, has fallen into the hands of ordinary people who lack the capacity to read it. This is where the role of the prophets becomes paramount. God has granted the “astronomical science of this” (tanjīm-e īn) to the prophets. Prophets are, in essence, the “astronomers” of human existence; they possess the “insightful eye for the unseen” (gheyb rā cheshmī bayāyad gheyb-bīn) and can read the spiderweb lines of human existence, revealing the secrets of the lofty attributes. This insight elevates humanity beyond a mere material being, transforming it into a decipherable book, each page of which requires a divine interpreter.

Mawlana’s discourse here is also compatible with our modern understanding of creation and evolution. When we speak of “Adam from dust” or the “breathing of the Divine Spirit,” we must understand these as metaphors, not as straightforward theological-historical facts. Creation, as modern science demonstrates, was not a sudden, singular event, but a gradual, patient, and deliberate process. The “potter’s breath” (fūte-ye kūzegari) or God’s “breathing of spirit” into humanity is a metaphor for bestowing a divine quality and essence upon human existence, not a physical act. Humanity, evolving over millions of years, has become a being capable of being the “astrolabe” of divine attributes. Thus, Adam is not a pot into which a potter’s breath is blown, nor made of baked clay, but a carbon-based existence that, over time, has become a mirror reflecting divine attributes. The task of the prophets is to interpret this mirror and to read those lines that, without an astronomer, would remain an enigma.

Key takeaways

• Humanity is the “astrolabe” of divine attributes, a mirror reflecting God’s qualities from afar, not directly.
• The human existence possesses “spiderweb patterns” (noqūsh-e ankabūt); cryptic and enigmatic lines hidden within, awaiting interpretation.
• Prophets are the “astronomers” of human existence; they possess the insight to perceive the unseen and decipher humanity's hidden mysteries.
• Mawlana views the state of humanity “without an astronomer in the hands of the common folk” as a tragedy, as the astrolabe of human existence cannot be read without prophetic guidance.
• The metaphors of “potter’s breath” and “Adam from dust” should be understood as symbolic representations of the divine quality bestowed upon humanity’s gradual and evolutionary existence, rather than literal theological facts.