M6:2315 — در عدم ما مستحقان کی بدیم / که برین جان و برین دانش زدیم

Translation: In non-existence, when were we among the deserving / that we came to possess this life and this knowledge? Meaning: This verse queries what merit we had for life and knowledge before our creation, asserting that these are pure, unearned divine gifts.

This verse, in essence, unequivocally unveils a profound secret of creation: the very foundation of existence rests upon boundless divine generosity (jūd) and beneficence (karam), not upon justice (ʿadl) or desert (istiḥqāq). Mawlana, here, in clear and direct language, asks us: before our existence, in that absolute non-being, who were we to possess any claim upon the Creator? What merit could we possibly assert? In reality, merit is contingent upon existence; one must first be to possess a right. Prior to being, claims and rights are utterly meaningless. Therefore, everything we possess, from the very life (jān) and sentience breathed into our being to the intellect (dāniš) and knowledge blossoming within us, is solely due to His pure bestowal, not as a reward or an inherent right. Mawlana reiterates this key point throughout the Masnavi, stating: “If merit were a condition for God’s act / No non-existent would come into being.” This means that if capability or desert were prerequisites for God's action, no non-existent entity would ever come into being, for no non-existence holds a claim to existence. This is the fundamental difference between human justice and divine generosity. We, as humans, are bound by principles of justice and desert in our interactions. However, in the realm of creation and bestowal, God operates purely on the principle of unconditioned grace and prior generosity. This is why we cannot question why we might have received less or more than another, for there was no original entitlement to receive anything at all—as the Persian proverb goes, “One does not count the teeth of a gift horse.” Even our very capacity for achieving perfections, this potential and readiness for growth and flourishing, is itself a gift originating from that same ocean of divine jūd. This is the “provision of capability from His handiwork” (رزق قابلیت صنع اوست). In other words, even the ability to have potential, and the capacity to become deserving, is itself a gift from Him. This perspective sees God's hand as unconstrained in the world, fundamentally differing from those who perceive the divine hand to be bound by nature or by a rigid determinism of causal laws. This liberating assertion conveys that divine grace flows upon all beings, irrespective of their perceived merit.

Key takeaways

• Creation is founded upon pure divine generosity (jūd), not upon justice (ʿadl) or earned merit (istiḥqāq).
• No being holds any inherent desert for existence or its blessings prior to its creation.
• Life (jān) and knowledge (dāniš) are unconditioned divine gifts, bestowed without prior deserving.
• Even our capacity and potential for acquiring perfections are themselves gifts from God.
• The principle of justice in human relations differs fundamentally from divine generosity in creation.