M6:3330 — نقش‌ها گر بی‌خبر گر با خبر / در کف نقاش باشد محتصر

Translation: Whether the roles are unaware or aware, / They are contained within the Painter's hand. Meaning: This verse asserts that all our states and forms, whether we are conscious of them or not, are entirely subject to the absolute will and power of the Divine Painter (God).

This verse is a gem, illuminating one of Rumi's most fundamental insights into the relationship between human beings and God. Rumi declares here that we humans—our states, our thoughts, our very beings—are all but "roles" or "forms" (نقش‌ها) held "in the hand of the Painter" (در کف نقاش). This means we are entirely within the grasp of the absolute power and will of the Divine Artist. It matters not whether we are "unaware or aware" (گر بی‌خبر گر با خبر) of this truth; our consciousness or lack thereof changes nothing about the reality that our entire existence, and everything that transpires within us, is under the dominion of that great Painter.

I have said this repeatedly: this perspective is deeply connected to the Quranic concept, "God erases what He wills and establishes what He wills, and with Him is the Mother of the Book" (Qur'an 13:39). Our existence is like a tablet of inscription and erasure upon which the Nameless God, moment by moment, erases one form and inscribes another. As Rumi says: "Moment by moment, on the page of their thoughts, / That Nameless One effects a hundred inscriptions and erasures." These internal transformations, which are often beyond our conscious control, are clear manifestations of the Painter's work.

Observe our own states: one moment we are immersed in anger, the next, contentment and peace overcome us. Stinginess may arrive and banish generosity, or vice versa. Do we always experience these states by conscious choice? Absolutely not. Rumi states here: "Anger He brings, contentment He takes away; / Stinginess He brings, generosity He takes away." These are all expressions of divine interventions in the theater of our being. A person cannot, by their own will, remain perpetually in a state of expansion (bast) or contraction (qabz), or any single enduring state. In this struggle of conditions, we are, in fact, like a feather in a storm, or a piece of straw in a tempest, blown hither and thither.

To further clarify this truth, Rumi offers tangible analogies: the potter with the pot, the carpenter with wood, the tailor with cloth, and the water-carrier with the waterskin. Does the pot shape itself to be wide or long? Is the wood cut and joined by itself? Does the garment sew itself? No. All these are "receptive causes" (علت قابلی) that require an "agent" (فاعل) to take form. We, too, in the hand of God, are like that waterskin that "Every moment you are filled, you are emptied." Thus, know that we are in the hand of His making (صنع ویی), and every moment we are filled and emptied by His power. This elucidates the concept of Unity of Actions (توحید افعالی); that all actions ultimately return to Him, and we are merely vessels and intermediaries in His hands.

Key takeaways

• Humans, their thoughts, and their states are all 'roles' or 'forms' in the hand of the Eternal Painter (God).
• Our awareness or unawareness does not alter the fact that we are under the dominion of divine will.
• Our existence is like a tablet of inscription and erasure upon which God constantly writes and deletes (referencing Qur'an 13:39).
• The shifts in our inner states (e.g., anger to contentment, stinginess to generosity) are often beyond our complete will, signaling divine intervention.
• We are receptive causes, dependent on the true Agent (God) for our formation and transformation.