Surely We offered the Trust to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, but they refused to carry it and feared it, and 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 heav- ens, the earths, 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 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 interces- sion of someone burnt.
