M6:3515 — آنک سازد در دلت مکر و قیاس / آتشی داند زدن اندر پلاس

Translation: He who casts cunning and speculation into your heart / also knows how to set fire to your coarse garment. Meaning: The Divine power that inspires complex thoughts and schemes within us possesses the same ability to ignite and consume our outward self or spiritual pretenses.

This verse, without a doubt, is among those where Mawlana elaborates on God's boundless power over the human mind and inner being. The 'He who' that casts 'cunning and speculation' (makr o qiyās) into your heart is none other than the Sacred Essence of Truth, who in the Quran calls Himself the 'best of schemers' (khayr al-mākirīn). All human cunning and reasoning derive their root from Divine cunning. These thoughts that whirl in our minds, the plans we devise, and the analyses we make, all originate from Him.

But His power is not limited there. Just as He sows the seeds of cunning and speculation in the heart, He is capable of 'setting fire to your coarse garment' (ātash zadan andar palās). The palās is that rough, patched Sufi garment, a symbol of asceticism, poverty, and renunciation of the world; it represents everything a person considers their outward identity or even their spiritual identity and to which they cling. Setting fire to the palās means dismantling all these external and internal structures, shattering assumptions and conventions, and burning away the veils of the 'self' that separate one from Truth. This is an expression of the Divine qabd (spiritual contraction) and bast (spiritual expansion) that Mawlana alluded to earlier; the constant turning of the heart between the 'two fingers' of Divine power.

Therefore, this verse is both a warning and a promise. A warning that nothing in human existence is outside the purview of Truth, neither thought nor action, neither what we create nor what we conceive. And a promise that this absolute power is capable of removing all obstacles on the path to truth-seeking and freeing a person from their own self, even by setting fire to the palās of their being. This is God's 'lawful enchantment' (siḥr-e ḥalāl) which can show reality as it is or cast veils upon it, and this is why the Prophet (PBUH) prayed: 'Lord, show us things as they truly are' (Rabbī arinā al-ashyāʾ kamā hī). This verse demonstrates that God is not merely the cause of causes, but is the orchestrator of cunning and speculation deep within the human heart, and in the pinnacle of His power, He can suddenly overturn this scene and reduce existence reliant on the 'palās' to nothingness.

Key takeaways

• God is the origin of all thoughts and intentions, both positive and negative, within the human heart.
• Divine power encompasses both creation (casting cunning and speculation) and destruction (setting fire to the coarse garment).
• The concept of makr-i Ḥaqq (Divine Cunning) refers to God's profound, wise orchestration that transcends ordinary human comprehension.
• The 'coarse garment' (palās) symbolizes outward identity, ascetic practices, or even the ego's self-perception, all of which are subject to divine transformation.
• This verse emphasizes God's absolute will, capable of altering human inner and outer states at any moment (divine qabd and bast).
• Liberation from self-attachment and false identities may occur through the searing experience of divine transformation.