M6:2215 — این نبود و او نبود و آن نبود / آنک او ترس آفرید اینها نمود

Translation: This was not, nor was that, nor was that other; He who created fear, caused these to appear. Meaning: This verse asserts that the immediate, perceived causes of our fears are not the ultimate reality. Rather, they are mere manifestations of a deeper, transcendent Creator who is the true source and orchestrator of fear itself.

I perceive in this verse the zenith of Rumi’s outlook on the roots of existence and knowledge. Following the tale of the blind man who first mistakes a blow for a camel, then for a stone from a roof, or an echo from a dome, Rumi emphatically declares: "This was not, nor was that, nor was that other." This means that the superficial and material causes we enumerate for our misfortunes and fears are all secondary, not primary. The true root lies elsewhere, beyond the reach of particular intellect and sensory experience.

"He who created fear, caused these to appear." This phrase is the key to understanding Rumi's ontology of fear and its causes. He states that all these manifestations of fear and their apparent causes are merely guises and reflections of that unique Essence who Himself created fear. This is a powerful declaration against the naturalist and materialist perspectives that confine causality solely to the material world and to efficient causes, neglecting the final and ultimate cause. Rumi goes further; he tells us that fear, like every other phenomenon, is His creation.

Here, Rumi levies a profound critique against those who dismiss fears as mere "illusion" (wahm) and baseless. He contemptuously refers to these philosophers as ḥakīmak (little philosophers) and states: "He has misunderstood this lesson; for how could any illusion be without a reality?" Even illusion and fantasy do not originate from nothingness. Every illusion, every false imagination, even every lie, must have a root in truth to manifest. Just as a counterfeit coin testifies to the existence of a real coin, a lie only gains meaning in the shadow of truth: "In both worlds, every lie arose from truth." Thus, fear, even if it initially appears as an illusory reaction, has a real root, which is the Creator of fear itself.

I see this as the very perspective that places Rumi alongside Kant; both realized the deficiency and limitation of reason in solving ultimate questions. Kant initiated a Copernican revolution in philosophy and built a new edifice. But Rumi was not a philosopher; he was not an "architect of philosophy." Instead of constructing a philosophical framework, he points to another path. He asserts that preoccupation with rational and philosophical debates distracts us from the goal of salvation and deliverance. The path to salvation lies in ʿishq (love); a love that bestows unity upon beings and opens the inner eye to the realities of existence. This is the love that can tell us whether man is compelled or free, and where the ultimate thread of causes lies. This is his path, a path where we engage in maḥw (effacement) rather than naḥw (grammar).

Key takeaways

• The apparent causes of fears and events are veils over their true, transcendent cause.
• The Creator of fear is the ultimate source of all its visible manifestations and guises.
• Rumi critiques naturalists for neglecting final causes, focusing only on material ones.
• Even illusions and fantasies are not born from nothing; they have a root in reality, for every lie originates from truth.
• For Rumi, intellect is limited in solving ultimate questions; the path to salvation is through love and inner discovery, not philosophical debate.