33:72 Surely We offered the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they refused to carry it and feared it, and the man carried it. Surely he was a great wrongdoer, deeply ignorant.
For a time Adam the Chosen—that first wayfarer, that wellspring of beginningless gentleness, that coffer of the wonders of omnipotence, that jewel-box of the gentleness of the Haqiqah, that shoot in the garden of generosity—was kept between Mecca and Taif in the cradle of the covenant of recognitions.
The ill-fortuned, ill-eyed Iblis passed by. With the hand of envy, he shook Adam’s makeup and found it empty. He said, “This creature will not be self-possessed. He is empty, and nothing comes forth from something empty.”
Beginningless good fortune replied on behalf of Adam: “Wait a few days until the falcon of his mystery takes flight! The first prey it hunts will be you.”
The abandoned and accursed Iblis saw Adam’s clay, but he did not see his heart. He saw the form, but he did not see the attribute. He saw his outwardness but did not see his inwardness. No one can put a seal on fire. You can put a seal on dust because dust is receptive to seals.
“When We brought Adam into existence from dust and clay, the wisdom was to place the seal of the Trust on the clay of his heart, for We offered the Trust to the heavens and the earth.”
He brought a handful of dust into existence and burned it with the fire of love. He gave it a place on the carpet of expansiveness. Then He offered the Trust to the world of form. The heavens, the earth, and the mountains refused. Adam came forth like a man and put out his hand. It was said, “O Adam, it is not being offered to you. Why do you want to receive it?”
He said, “Because I am burnt, and someone burnt can only receive.”
On the day when the fire was deposited in stone, the stone was made to promise not to submit its head until it saw someone burnt. Do you fancy that this fire is going to come out into the open with the strength of your forearm? No, no, don’t suppose that. It will only come out with the intercession of someone burnt.
We offered the Trust: O chevalier! Strive to preserve that first covenant with that first seal. Then the angels will praise you: The angels will descend upon them saying, “Fear not! Grieve not!” [41:30].
It is people’s custom when they leave a precious trust with someone to put a seal on it. On the day they want it back, they examine the seal. If the seal is in place, they praise him. Trust was placed with you at the Covenant of Lordhood—Am I not your Lord? Upon that was put the seal of Yes indeed. When your life reaches its end, you will be taken to the domicile of dust. The angel will come and say, “Who is your Lord?” This is an examination to see whether or not the seal of the First Day is in place.
“O man! A seal was put on you, from the top of your head to your feet. That was the seal [muhr] of love [mihr]. A seal was put on the place of love. O Riḍwān, paradise is yours! O cherubim, the Throne is yours! O burnt heart upon which is the seal of love, you are Mine, and I am yours.”
“If We had sent this Qur’an down on a mountain, you would have seen it humbled, split apart by the fear of God” [59:21]. You see an angel, one of whose wings spread out would bring the two horizons beneath it, but it does not have the capacity to carry this meaning. Then you see the poor wretch of an Adamite, skin stretched across bones. Like a fearless warrior he inherits down the warmth of trial in the goblet of friendship, and no change appears in him. Why is that? Because he is the possessor of the heart, and the heart carries what the body does not.
When Adam the Chosen, who was the marvel of creation and unique in the Desire, saw that the heaven and the earth would not carry the burden of the Trust, he came forth like a man and lifted that burden. He said, “They looked at the tremendousness of the burden and refused it. I looked at the generosity of Him who was placing the Trust.” The burden of the Trust of the Generous is carried by aspiration, not strength. When Adam lifted the burden, he was addressed with the words, “We carried them on land and sea” [17:70]. “Is the recompense of beautiful doing anything but beautiful doing?” [55:60].
There is a likeness for this in the outward realm. When trees have sturdier roots and more branches, their fruit is smaller and lighter. Trees that are weaker and softer have thicker and larger fruit, like melon and squash. Here, however, there is a subtle point: When a tree’s fruit is thicker and larger and it does not have the capacity to carry it, they say to it, “Take the heavy burden from your shoulders and put it on top of the earth.” This is so that the world’s folk will know that wherever there is someone frail, he is being nurtured by the gentleness of the Exalted Presence. This is the secret of We carried them on land and sea.
