M6:3689 — ور سبب گیری نگیری هم دلیر / که بس آفت‌هاست پنهانش به زیر

Translation: And even if you rely on causes, do not be too bold in them, For many perils lie hidden beneath their surface. Meaning: This verse cautions against absolute reliance on apparent causes, reminding us that unpredictable outcomes and hidden dangers always lurk beneath our carefully planned actions.

This beyt unequivocally reveals one of Rumi's most fundamental insights: the critique of absolute reliance on apparent causes (asbāb). We often seek a seamless continuity in nature, assuming causality is self-evident and guaranteed. Yet, as Rumi teaches, this continuity is merely a "veil of heedlessness" – a continuous act of creation that, if momentarily suspended, could transform a horse into a donkey, and we should not be surprised. This aligns with Kant's observation that causality is a mental category rather than a purely empirical datum, but Rumi elevates it to divine agency.

Rumi urges us to "never place hundred-percent trust in causes." We have witnessed countless times how our meticulously laid plans go awry: an arrow shot to the right veers left, we pursue a gazelle only to capture a hog, or we strive for profit only to end up in jail. We dig a well for others and fall into it ourselves. These are not mere exceptions; they are symptoms of a deeper truth. Here, Rumi poignantly asks: "When the Lord makes your cause lead to naught / Why not distrust the cause you sought?"

He shows us that even relying on causes is part of the world's arrangement, but we must never assume that a different outcome was impossible. There is always room for error and deviation. This is a crucial point that calls us to both intellectual and practical humility. Our knowledge of scientific laws, despite all precision and calculation, never offers one-hundred percent certainty. It is regrettable how some mistake the map of nature for a definitively and eternally known territory. This is simply not the case, and fortunately, our eyes are now open to this truth.

This insight rejects deterministic thinking on all levels. In the philosophy of history, theories like Marxism, which claimed to uncover scientific laws of historical movement and predict the future, ultimately failed due to their "poverty of imagination" when confronted with small, unexpected events that altered history's course. Ideas such as Fukuyama's "End of History" stem from the same flaw; no guarantee has been given that the future will unfold as we predict. It might, or it might not. When it does not, Rumi tells us that there is another Mover, another Force, a dominant Power that holds all things in its grasp.

From a theological perspective, these "breaches" in affairs are signs that the world does not stand on its own feet. As stated in the Nahj al-Balagha: "Araftu 'llāha bi-faskhi 'l-ʿazāʾim wa naqḍi 'l-himam" (I knew God through the nullification of my intentions and the breaking of my resolves). This is proof of a dominant will that sometimes permits and sometimes restricts us. Rumi says the agent of change is "like a donkey's tail"; that is, the apparent cause moves things, but the donkey has a rider. So, relying on the donkey's tail is meaningless; one must pay attention to the rider. This is the spirit of saying "Insha'Allah" (God willing): refraining from absolute reliance on causes. For at times, the donkey is made to appear as a goat, and the goat as a donkey, especially for one who is blindly enamored with a desired outcome. Ultimately, it is God's 'inversion' (taqlīb) that sometimes reveals truths in an altered form to awaken humanity from heedlessness.

Key takeaways

• Do not place excessive trust in apparent causes, as hidden outcomes are always at play.
• The inherent unpredictability and fragility of outcomes signal the presence of a hidden, dominant Will.
• The world is in continuous creation; our assumption of automatic continuity is a veil of heedlessness.
• Historical and scientific determinism are illusions; there are no guaranteed outcomes for the future.
• Cultivate intellectual and practical humility; you are neither master of the world nor in full control.
• Recognizing God through the 'nullification of intentions' (faskh-i ʿazāʾim) is a vital path to understanding divine agency.