Which weighs the greater—my guilt, or Your mercy

No.10

I am the one brought forth by Your decree;
And long I’ve lived on what Your bounty gave to me;
A hundred years I’ll sin, to trial this mystery through:
Which weighs the greater—my guilt, or Your mercy’s plea?  ^*

Philosophical Reflection

This quatrain contains one of Khayyam’s boldest engagements with the problem of divine justice. It begins with a declaration of origin: the speaker acknowledges that he was brought into being by a higher power. His existence, as well as the blessings that have sustained it, are attributed entirely to that creative force. The tone is not devotional, but factual — establishing the groundwork for a profound challenge.

The second line strengthens this connection: he has lived for decades on the “bounty” or “grace” of the Creator. This sets the stage for a startling pivot. In the third line, Khayyam proposes a hundred years of sin — not as rebellion, but as an experiment. The purpose is to “test” or “trial” a cosmic question: in the final reckoning, which holds more weight — human wrongdoing or divine mercy?

This inquiry is neither flippant nor purely rhetorical. It exposes a philosophical tension embedded in religious doctrine. If the Creator is all-powerful and all-merciful, then the scale between justice and compassion becomes a measure of divine nature itself. By framing sin as a test, Khayyam implies that human actions cannot be evaluated without first evaluating the One who created human capacity, inclination, and limitation.

The tone of the final line is not mocking but disarming: “Which weighs more?” The question undermines simplistic moral arithmetic and challenges the idea that divine justice can be understood through human categories. It suggests that if mercy is truly infinite, then human guilt — finite and conditioned — cannot outweigh it. And if human guilt does outweigh mercy, then the nature of that mercy must be questioned.

This quatrain belongs centrally to The Challenge of Creation, with strong ties to Theology, Determinism, and Meaning & Doubt. Its philosophical roots align with Khayyam’s treatise on Necessity of Contradiction in the World, Determinism, and Immortality, where Khayyam interrogates the relationship between divine will and human action. It resonates with his other treatise, A Response to Three Questions in Philosophy and Theology, which addresses justice, power, and cosmic order. And it echoes Treatise on the General Properties of Existence, which places human moral struggle within the structure of necessity rather than free invention.

Rather than offering an answer, Khayyam uses this quatrain to expose a paradox: the human being is held accountable for actions made possible only through divine design, yet judged by standards said to emerge from divine perfection. The tension between guilt and mercy becomes not a doctrine, but a question — and the weight of that question is precisely what makes this quatrain so enduring.

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Footnote

* Source: Trabkhaneh, Homaei, no. 10, translated by Kam Austine for the book Philosophy in Verse

Related Khayyam’s Treatises:
Necessity of Contradiction in the World, Determinism, and Immortality
A Response to Three Questions in Philosophy and Theology
Treatise on the General Properties of Existence

Internal Themes: #ChallengeWithTheCreator #Theology #Determinism #Mercy

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Published as part of the Philosophy in Verse Series — under “The Challenge of Creation.”