M6:3132 — ما کجا بودیم کان دیان دین / عقل می‌کارید اندر آب و طین

Translation: Where were we, when that Lord of Recompense / Was sowing intellect into water and clay? Meaning: This rhetorical question ponders a time before our conscious existence, when God was implanting intelligence into the elemental fabric of humanity.

This stirring couplet allows Mawlana to break free from the narrative voice of the indebted man and return to his own. Here, Mawlana asks: “Where were we, when that Lord of Recompense / Was sowing intellect into water and clay?” This is a rhetorical query about a time before our own existence, when the mighty hand of God was busy shaping our very being.

I must elaborate on “Diān-i Dīn.” “Dīn” fundamentally signifies recompense, reward, and retribution, and it has Persian roots. In the Avesta, for example, an angel named Daena or Sraosha is said to assess deeds after death. Thus, “Diān-i Dīn” refers to the Lord of Recompense, the one who holds the ledger of actions.

The verse speaks of a time when we were not, yet God was engaged in embedding intellect into “āb-o tīn”—water and clay—the very elemental composition of humanity. This is an image of primordial human creation found in religious traditions, especially in sacred texts: a direct portrayal of Adam’s instantaneous creation from clay, followed by the bestowal of intellect and soul. This was the accepted understanding during Mawlana’s time and among his contemporaries.

However, today, with eyes opened by the theory of evolution and modern science, we can no longer view this image with the same simplicity as our predecessors. The One who sowed intellect into water and clay did not do so in a single, instantaneous moment, but gradually, bit by bit, with patience and deliberation, over millions of years. Our organs, molecules, and even our intelligence have been laid upon each other progressively. This does not mean there was no design; on the contrary, it was a “gradually unfolding design,” akin to an engineer constructing a building over a hundred million years. This is not predestination (jabr) but a manifestation of God’s absolute power (jabbārī), an order that leads us to gratitude, not complaint.

It is for this reason that I contend the language of religion, particularly when describing the genesis of creation, is metaphorical and allegorical. We were not literally made from “dust”; our existential structure is carbon-based. And the “breathing of the spirit” into us is a “potter’s breath”—a symbolic expression referring to the life-giving, mysterious essence of creation, not a physical act. These may have been Moses’s dreams, which endured in the Torah, and perhaps the Prophet Muhammad also experienced such visions. The interpretation of this final cup is entrusted to our hands; we must, as cup-bearers, dispense it to each according to their capacity.

Immediately following this verse, Mawlana gets to the crux of the matter, stating: “Adam is the astrolabe of lofty attributes; / Adam’s description is the manifestation of His signs.” That is, this very human being, whose intellect was sown in water and clay, is an astrolabe reflecting the sublime divine attributes. Just as ancient astrolabes revealed distant stars, so too is humanity a mirror reflecting God’s qualities. But this reflection is like the moon’s image in flowing water: a presence from afar, not the absolute truth itself.

The “spiderweb patterns” on the human astrolabe are the cryptic, enigmatic lines inscribed in our very essence. If one can read these patterns and comprehend the secrets of existence from them, they can access the celestial sphere of the unseen and the sun of the spirit. Yet, this astrolabe of guidance, this instrument of direction, falls into the hands of the common person without an “astrologer” or guide, and they cannot decipher its mysteries. Here Mawlana states: “God gave this astrology to the prophets; / The unseen requires an unseen-seeing eye.” Indeed, the prophets are those astrologers who, with their unseen-seeing eyes, read the spiderweb patterns of our existence and extract divine secrets from them. We are like a text in an unknown language, or an X-ray image that only a physician can read; and the prophets are the physicians of the soul, the readers of this complex text of our being.

Key takeaways

• This verse points to the dawn of human creation, when intellect was embedded in our elemental nature, a time preceding our conscious awareness.
• Mawlana refers to the "Diān-i Dīn" (Lord of Recompense), whose divine attributes are the origin of creation and the arbiter of destiny.
• The image of "sowing intellect into water and clay" should be interpreted through the lens of modern evolutionary science and God's "gradually unfolding design," rather than as an instantaneous creation.
• The language of religion, especially regarding creation, is metaphorical; concepts like "Adam from clay" and "breathing the spirit" should be understood as allegorical and symbolic.
• Humans, with their implanted intellect, become an "astrolabe of lofty attributes," reflecting divine qualities through their existential mysteries.
• Prophets are the astrologers and decipherers of this "astrolabe of guidance," capable of reading the "spiderweb patterns" of human existence to unveil unseen truths.