M6:1071 — جذب یزدان با اثرها و سبب / صد سخن گوید نهان بی‌حرف و لب

Translation: God's attraction, through effects and causes, / Speaks a hundred hidden words, without sound or lip. Meaning: This verse conveys that God communicates with existence through the system of cause and effect and the inherent attraction in the world, speaking in a hidden manner without recourse to conventional words.

In this verse, along with the preceding ones, Mawlana unveils one of his deepest insights into the nature of God's language. He asserts that God's ṣanʿ — His creation and ongoing administration of the world — is, in essence, His speech. The divine word is not necessarily a collection of letters and sounds emanating from lips; rather, it is His action, His deed. When the sun enters the sign of Aries (Hamal), it speaks to the plants and seeds, commanding them to sprout from the earth and blossom. Clear water converses with flowers and saplings. These are all examples of divine 'making' which are 'like the breath and word of magicians' (afsun-garān). Just as pressing an elevator button conveys the command 'move,' God speaks to existence and propels it forward through His acts of creation and intervention in the world.

Within this context, jadhb-i Yazdān – the divine attraction and pull that pervades the entire cosmos – is the primary force and the true speaker. The athar-hā o sabab (effects and causes), which in our common language are simply cause and effect, are merely the instruments and channels of this speech. However, Mawlana transcends conventional understanding here. He firmly rejects the notion of inherent and independent causality for these means. The causes and effects we observe in nature are, in his view, not independent agents, but rather divine 'customs' (sunnat) or 'habits' (ʿādat-i ilāhī). These customs serve as a veil over God's direct action; God has 'habituated' Himself to govern the world in this manner. Water extinguishes fire, a stone returns to the earth, medicine cures illness; but these are all current habits. God's 'power sometimes breaks the custom' (gāh qudrat khāriq-i sunnat shavad); meaning, He can at any moment shatter these habits and act contrary to them. Water could have ignited fire, and stones could have ascended to the sky.

Therefore, causes and effects are mere 'cover-ups' (rūpūsh) and veils over direct divine will. Mawlana states elsewhere: 'It's not that the decreed influences are not agents / But their influence from themselves is not rational.' This means that while these decrees, manifesting as causes and effects, do have an apparent influence, it is illogical to assume that the influence originates independently from them. They are merely conduits and channels for the divine will.

This profound understanding of causality and divine speech is undoubtedly challenging, even unacceptable, for the 'imitative intellect' (ʿaql-i muqallid) and minds accustomed to superficial explanations. Mawlana himself recognizes this and, with subtle irony, remarks: 'If the intellect asks, 'What is this path?' / Say, 'It is such that you cannot know,' and that is all' (Wa-s-salām). This implies that if the imitative intellect attempts to grasp these secrets, the answer is that it is incapable of comprehending this profound truth. This highlights that Mawlana presents a truth that transcends ordinary, superficial understanding and demands deeper insight.

Key takeaways

• God's speech is inherent in His creation; His word is not necessarily comprised of letters and sounds.
• Causes and effects in the world are merely divine 'customs' and 'habits,' not independent agents with intrinsic causality.
• The 'Divine Attraction' (jadhb-i Yazdān) is the primary driving force behind all phenomena and actions in the cosmos.
• God can, at any moment, break these apparent customs and laws of the world and act contrary to them.
• Grasping these profound truths extends beyond the capacity of the 'imitative intellect' and superficial understanding.