M6:2348 — او نگفتت که کمان را سخت‌کش / در کمان نه گفت او نه پر کنش

Translation: He did not tell you to draw the bowstring hard; / He only told you to place it in the bow, not to draw it or fill it. Meaning: This verse critiques over-interpretation and meddling in divine or mystical commands, emphasizing the importance of adhering strictly to the literal instruction without adding personal interpretations.

This verse, without a doubt, is situated within a fundamental teaching of Mawlana; a teaching that strongly condemns "fozooli" (meddling, over-interpretation) in divine matters. It is, in essence, a continuation of the story of the dervish who received an inspiration to "place an arrow in the bow." But man is prone to his own assumptions and habits. The dervish added to this command: "and draw it." For that is the custom of archery; one does not merely place an arrow in a bow, one must draw it. Yet, Mawlana emphatically states that "the deceptive point of the matter lay precisely here." This is the moment when man, out of his own assumptions and habits, adds to a command received from the unseen, thereby stripping it of its true meaning. Mawlana here, in fact, "kicks" at philosophers; at those who meddle in religion and divine knowledge, and "add a few words" of their own to verses and traditions, out of their own limited intellect. This "fozooli" that I speak of, is in essence the interference of the particularizing intellect in the realm of revelation and intuition. Our limited reason presumes that some commands "make no sense" or are "unreasonable," but Mawlana warns that "you do not know its secret." I have previously alluded to how this very "fozooli" manifests in the interpretation of religious texts. A vivid example that comes to mind in this regard is an interpretation of the words of Imam Ali (AS) on his deathbed, where he states that he strived greatly concerning the secret of death, "fa abā Allāh illā ikhfāʾihī" (but God refused to reveal it). Some translators, out of their own "fozooli," add the phrase "and I attained it" in parentheses right there! As if Imam Ali had discovered the secret but not divulged it. This is precisely the spirit of adding to and tampering with the words of God or His saints that Mawlana critiques in this verse. The lesson of this verse is clear: do exactly what you are told, and not a single word more.

Key takeaways

• Adhere faithfully to divine commands, even if they seem illogical, without adding or subtracting.
• The interference of the particularizing intellect in the realm of revelation and intuition is a form of "meddling" and distortion.
• Truth often lies in disregarding human habits and assumptions.
• Mawlana critiques philosophies that corrupt the authenticity of religious messages through superfluous interpretations.