M6:3673 — ناشده واقف که نک بر پشت ما / رایض و چستی‌ست استادی‌نما

Translation: Unaware that, behold, upon our back, There is a nimble, master-like rider. Meaning: This verse points to our profound unawareness of the superior, masterful force (God) that truly holds the reins of our lives and the world, while we mistakenly assume ourselves to be the ultimate agents and influencers.

Mowlana, within the narrative of the sick slave girl and the impotent physicians, employs a profound allegory to unveil our ignorance regarding the true nature of agency. He states that physicians, who focus solely on natural causes and effects, are akin to an unbridled horse, galloping forth unaware of its rider. These physicians, and by extension any natural scientist whose gaze is fixed purely on the immediate, observe the pain from the bit in their mouths and the weariness of their hooves from their exertions, mistakenly believing that these are the forces driving their movements.

But Mowlana cries out in this verse: Unaware that, behold, upon our back, / There is a nimble, master-like rider. This horse is oblivious to the 'nimble trainer' (rāyiz-e chost) upon its back, a swift and masterful rider who holds the true reins of command. The horse's errance and movement are not due to the bridle (legām), but rather to the dispositions and management (tasrīf) of that 'beloved-willed rider' (savār-e dūstkām). It is this rider who steers the horse hither and thither, and we remain oblivious to His presence. Here, with a single powerful stroke, Mowlana directs our attention to the hidden truth behind the veil of natural causes; where apparent causes are merely instruments and tools of a superior agency.

This unawareness is, in essence, a veil cast by 'God's stratagem' (makr-e Yazdān) – here understood as divine providence and power. These physicians and naturalists are confined within the chains of natural cause and effect, thus veiled (moḥtajab) from that masterful rider who governs all from behind the curtain. They perceive the 'moving thing' (junbanda), but not the 'Mover' (junbānanda). They assume these movements originate from the beings themselves, whereas 'with every moving thing, there is a Mover' who is the ultimate instigator.

I have previously noted that Mowlana's perspective here draws deeply from Ash'arite theology and its rejection of horizontal (natural) causality. Ghazali, in his Tahāfot al-Falāsefeh, explicitly challenges the philosophy of natural causality, asserting that fire does not burn cotton by itself, but by God's will. In effect, he posits a discontinuity in nature; phenomena are not inherently linked, and every event stems directly from divine will. It is God's custom that when fire is placed near cotton, it burns, but sometimes it might not, just as Abraham remained unscathed in the fire. This 'discontinuity' is the core of the Ash'arite worldview, which Mowlana also employs. Even Kant, in modern Western philosophy, with his profound thought, concluded that continuity and causality in nature are not empirical data from the external world, but rather mental categories we impose upon experience. We play a role in knowing the world and construct it based on our mental frameworks. Mowlana, in his own way, elucidates this very unawareness of the invisible and superior contribution to the world's agency; an unawareness that distances us from grasping the true 'rider' and 'master'.

Key takeaways

• Our focus on natural causality often veils the ultimate Agent.
• What we perceive as self-will and agency might simply be obedience to a nimble rider.
• The natural world is a horse guided by a hidden rider; we only see the bridle and wounded hooves, oblivious to the true Master.
• This unawareness of superior agency is, as Mowlana puts it, a veil from divine providence.