M6:207 — در نبی بشنو بیانش از خدا / آیت اشفقن ان یحملنها

Translation: Hear in the Prophet its explanation from God / The verse: "They (the heavens, earth, and mountains) feared to bear it (the Trust)." Meaning: In this verse, Rumi refers to the Quranic passage (33:72) where the heavens, earth, and mountains refused to bear God's Amānah (Trust), which Rumi interprets as human free will.

Rumi's statement here carries significant weight and depth. In previous verses and in this one, he explicitly asks God to take back his ikhtiyār (free will) and agency. This stance, as you can see, is utterly incompatible with the approach of thinkers like Iqbal Lahori, who emphasize strengthening human will. Instead, Rumi, in a state of fervent supplication, is almost treading the path of certain extremist Sufis who wished to become like angels—beings who are good but not mukhtār (possessing free will). He considers this free will not a divine gift but a torment, a veritable jān kandan (death throes).

He argues that this entire cosmos, all beings other than humans, flee from free will. For ikhtiyār is precisely what can lead one to make wrongful choices. And that Quranic verse (33:72) where God states that He offered the Amānah (Trust) to the heavens, the earth, and the mountains, but they declined to bear it and feared it, and only man undertook to bear it—Rumi interprets this Amānah as ikhtiyār, the power of choice. Man, in his ignorance, did not realize into what abyss (chāh-e vīl) he was casting himself by accepting this Trust; he did not know that with this power of choice, he might sometimes fall into ill-chosen paths, and what agony this two-pathed تردد (taraddud, wavering/indecision) would bring.

To possess free will, even if its ultimate path leads to You, is jān kandan. As he says: "Though in these two paths, there is no aim but You / Yet struggle is never like revelry." The struggle with the self and its choices will never be like the joyous revelry of union. Rumi explicitly asks God to grant him the "single-pathed attraction of the Straight Path" (jazb-e yek rāhe ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm), where this vacillation and challenge of free will no longer exist. This is a plea for liberation from the heavy burden of decision and choice, a return to a sweet self-forgetfulness, to a station where only the divine attraction remains and human will is effaced. This is not fatalism, but the ultimate surrender to divine omnipotence.

Key takeaways

• Rumi, in this and related verses, passionately pleads for God to relieve him of the heavy burden of free will (ikhtiyār).
• He interprets the divine Amānah (Trust) mentioned in the Quran (33:72) as free will, noting that the heavens and earth feared to bear it, while humanity accepted it.
• Rumi's perspective contrasts sharply with thinkers like Iqbal Lahori, who emphasize strengthening human will; instead, Rumi seeks a liberation from choice, a return to the angel-like state of being without ikhtiyār.
• For Rumi, free will is a torment (jān kandan) and a source of wavering and struggle (taraddud), whereas his longing is for the "single-pathed attraction of the Straight Path" (jazb-e yek rāhe ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm) and the state of will-lessness and union.
• This verse reflects the peak of a mystical aversion to the burden of choosing and a profound desire for effacement into the Divine Will.