M6:3504 — پای گاو اندر میان آری ز داو / رو ندوزد حق بر اسپی شاخ گاو

Translation: You bring forth the cow's foot as a trick, God would not sew a cow's horn onto a horse. Meaning:* This verse highlights human trickery against divine order, emphasizing that God's creation is founded on perfect harmony and proportion, not absurd incongruities.

This verse appears in the story of ʿImad al-Mulk, concerning the incident of a horse presented to the king with a cow's head. ʿImad al-Mulk, the king's doorkeeper, requests that the king accept this strange horse, which possesses a “cow’s head upon a horse.” However, Rumi, here with a definitive and explicit tone, does not attribute the possibility of such an incongruous creation to God.

Rumi is effectively posing a rhetorical question: “Can God truly place a cow’s head, a cow’s horn, upon a horse?” The immediate answer is a resounding no. This reminds us of a fundamental law of creation. God, who is the “renowned Architect” (shohreh-zāv), a celebrated and skilled builder, would never undertake such a task. “This renowned Architect is so skilled in creation” (bas monāseb-ṣanʿat ast în shohreh-zāv); in His craftsmanship, in His act of creation, God acts with utmost proportion and harmony. He has crafted bodies in perfect accord with one another. Just as one cannot expect a palace with arcades and cemented pools to suddenly feature disproportionate and ungainly sections, divine creation is likewise pure of such incongruities.

I view this, as I have stated before, as a sign of Rumi's deep-rooted belief in the fundamental order and harmony of the cosmos. Our world is neither chaotic nor brought into existence by mere chance. Every part of it resides in its rightful place, imbued with a specific wisdom. This proportion is evident not only in the creation of beings but permeates the entire existential system. Therefore, any attempt to intermingle the incommensurable, like the doorkeeper's trickery, is ultimately exposed, as it clashes with the inherent order of existence.

The verse emphasizes God’s ultimate wisdom and His vast knowledge in creation. God is indeed a “schemer” (makkār), in the sense that He sometimes veils truths and sometimes tears away those veils, but this “lawful scheme” (makr-e ḥalāl) of His never implies creating disproportion or patching together beings in an absurd manner. Divine schemes ultimately lead to the unveiling of truth and the guidance of humanity towards perfection, not the fundamental disruption of creation's beauty and harmony. This is a key distinction between divine cunning and petty human trickery, which is built on a foundation of disorder and deceit. A human who endeavors to “bring forth the cow’s foot as a trick” (pāy-e gāv andar miyān ārī z-e dāv) imagines they can deceive the natural order, but this is a mere crude fancy; for the truth-seeing eye recognizes such an ill-fitting patch, and sound reason will not tolerate it.

Key takeaways

• God's creation is founded on perfect order, harmony, and proportion; it never includes absurd or incongruous combinations.
• The verse serves as a critique of human deception and their attempt to foolishly intermingle unrelated elements.
• Divine cunning, unlike human trickery, has a wise purpose and never implies creating fundamental disharmony in creation.
• The world of creation is a harmonious system; every part of it resides in its proper place and proportion.